HODGSON’S FURY
Salah in dive row as Reds grab victory
Roy Hodgson launched an attack on referee Michael oliver last night for the penalty award that destroyed Crystal Palace’s attempts to beat Liverpool.
oliver pointed to the spot in the final minute of the first half with the game goalless. He judged Mamadou sakho to have tripped Mohamed salah and James Milner converted from 12 yards. sadio Mane wrapped up Liverpool’s 2-0 win late in the second half.
Palace boss Hodgson said: ‘There is some comfort or pride in the team’s performance, but it’s not going to change my anger at the way we came in at half-time a goal down.
‘I don’t think that’s a penalty. I do think it
STATS geeks will have predicted the outcome here shortly before half- time when Liverpool scored. They may only have led by a single goal at that point, but it had gone in from the penalty spot courtesy of James Milner. Nerds know what happens when Milner scores in the Premier League. His team do not lose. Not once. Not ever.
Milner has found the net 49 times in the Premier League, across 48 games and 16 years. The end result: 38 wins and 10 draws. So full credit to Crystal Palace for trying their damnedest to battle the inevitable, but history favoured three points for Liverpool from that moment and history was not to be contradicted.
The home fans felt hard done by over the penalty and berated the man who won it, Mohamed Salah, until the bitter end, but they did not have a case. The penalty was a penalty, the sending-off for Aaron Wan- Bissaka over a separate incident was a red card and Liverpool’s late second goal provided a scoreline that pretty much reflected the difference between the teams.
Palace hit the bar and forced at least one outstanding save from Alisson, but Liverpool had more of the game and fought every bit as hard. Jurgen Klopp said his message to his players towards the end was: ‘Run, or I will kill you’. Obviously, he didn’t mean it literally. Some of them he would probably just maim.
This is a very big result for Liverpool, and Klopp knew that. Title challengers will feel they have to win at Selhurst Park. Not because Crystal Palace are there for the taking — they are a good side, very well organised and extremely hard to defeat — but because Manchester City are the team to beat and are capable of winning anywhere.
Now they have to match Liverpool and it will be a challenge — for them, or any other team with pretentions to lift the trophy next year. Palace are a pest and will continue to be while Wilfried Zaha stays fit. He gives them the counter-attacking potential of an elite team, ably supported by the legs of a Jeffrey Schlupp, Wan-Bissaka and others. And like most Hodgson teams, they are defensively resolute and hard-working. Mamadou Sakho is a wild card, though — which is where it all fell down shortly before half-time.
There is a reason Liverpool traded Sakho and it was there in the 44th minute. Palace had worked like stink to take Liverpool to half- time goalless, then Sakho surrendered it with a moment of rashness. The home fans fumed, raged and cried cheat at Salah and Michael Oliver, the referee, but it was a foul that did the damage, not a dive. Roberto Firmino was smothered by Palace for much of the night but on this occasion threaded the ball successfully to Salah. Sakho was trying to get the ball, but it was clumsy and always teetering on the brink of calamity. Salah was preparing to shoot but tumbled instead. Maybe he exaggerated the fall, but not the foul. Milner stepped up and, in front of a raucous home end, stuck the ball smartly past Wayne Hennessey. The usual mocking mimes followed Salah around for the rest of the match, but he isn’t a diver. It wouldn’t be right to say he has never dived — he did so against Chelsea towards the end of last season and Klopp (left) called him on it, very publicly. That wasn’t a ruse but maybe it helped Salah long-term. He would be a fool to anger his manager a second time and if referees are paying attention they would know the history. Perhaps it helped convince Oliver of his sincerity.
It certainly did not improve the mood among the regulars when local hero Wan-Bissaka was sent off for tripping the man they saw as the villain of the piece — but Oliver got that one right, too.
Wan-Bissaka is a star in the making and beneath the gaze of England manager Gareth Southgate was impressing, right up to the moment the rashness of youth curtailed his evening. There were 15 minutes to go when Firmino put Salah away and he outstripped Palace’s back four to tear on goal.
Wan-Bissaka set off in pursuit but getting there was always a desperately tall order, even for one so fast. An older, wiser head would have left it for goalkeeper Hennessey to deal with, stayed alert to being first to any rebound and what will be, will be. Wan-Bissaka tried his luck. He clipped Salah in full flow, the results were spectacular and gave Oliver no option but to brandish a red card.
The only saving grace was that contact came outside the area and Liverpool did nothing with the free-kick. It was a sad end to WanBissaka’s night, though. He was shown a red card on his debut for England Under 20s, too, and it is a habit that belies a huge talent. Until that point he had outshone Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Palace will have felt doubly unfortunate having had at least two good scoring chances against a Liverpool defence wonderfully marshalled by Virgil van Dijk. When Naby Keita gave the ball away in the first half, Andros Townsend cut inside, sized up the target and hit a fantastic dipping shot that defeated Alisson but not the bar. In the second half, Luka Milivojevic curled a free-kick over the wall, forcing the best save of the night from Alisson.
Yet Liverpool remain potentially devastating on the counter and, while their full backs have had better matches, Salah is never less than a terrifying presence.
In the 49th minute he was put through by Andrew Robertson but took the ball too wide when rounding Hennessey and had to double back instead of going for goal. Having kept play alive, he fed Keita, but his shot went wide of the target to the accompaniment of much mockery.
As Crystal Palace searched in vain for a late equaliser, however, the inevitable happened. Man of the match Van Dijk won a mighty header — one of many — from a Palace corner, Salah sped away on the break and put Sadio Mane in.
He stayed upright after another desperate challenge from Patrick Van Aanholt, rounded Hennessey, just about kept his balance and pushed the ball into an empty net.
Follow that. They will all have to, and it won’t be easy. CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Hennessey 7; Wan-Bissaka 6, Tomkins 6, Sakho 5, Van Aanholt 5.5; McArthur 7, Milivojevic 7, Schlupp 6.5 (Meyer 83min); Townsend 7 (Ward 79), Benteke 5.5 (Sorloth 70, 6), Zaha 7. Subs not used: Guaita, Kouyate, Ayew, Kelly. Booked: Van Aanholt. Sent off: Wan-Bissaka. Manager: Roy Hodgson 6. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; Alexander-Arnold 6.5, Gomez 8, VAN DIJK 8.5, Robertson 6.5; Milner 7 (Henderson 67, 6), Wijnaldum 7, Keita 7.5 (Lallana 87); Salah 7, Firmino 6 (Sturridge 90), Mane 6.5. Subs not used: Mignolet, Moreno, Shaqiri, Matip. Scorers: Milner 45 pen, Mane 90+3. Booked: Alexander-Arnold. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 7. Referee: Michael Oliver 7. Attendance: 25,750.