Liverpool boss irate as VAR in firing line
Crucial calls against the EPL champions
Already angered by fixture timings in a congested schedule and hindered by a long injury list in his squad, Liverpool manager Jurgen Kloppwas given another reason to be unhappy following the latest contentious incident involvingvar in the English Premier League.
The champions dropped two points after conceding a goal from a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw at Brighton yesterday.
The spot kickwas awarded following an intervention by the video assistant referee, whopreviously ruled out two Liverpool goals atamex Stadium for offside— one of which couldn’t have been tighter against Mohamed Salah.
“You cannot imagine howmany things are hard to take (at) the moment,” said Klopp, whoselist of gripes is getting longer by the day.
Liverpool’s coachmadeclear his frustration by sarcastically applauding the assistant referee after Pascal Gross converted Brighton’s equaliser.
Hespoke to the match officials as they walked off the field after the final whistle.
Klopp wasn’t finished there, continuing his complaints about broadcasters post-match regarding a schedule that has seen Liverpool forced to play on Thursday in the Champions League and then Sunday in the Premier League.
“The only thingwehave to do is deal with it, recover, prepare again and go,” he said.
Indeed, for a teamback atop the league as they look to retain the title, Liverpool are an unhappy bunch.
Salah, whorecently returned to action after contracting the coronavirus, wassubstituted around the hour mark— just like hewason in the 2-0 loss on Thursday to Atalanta in the Champions League— and didn’t hide his unhappiness.
Kloppmadeit clear hewas trying to protect his star attacker, whoset upliverpool’s goal scored by Diogo Jota.
“Wehave to be careful (with Salah),” Klopp said. “He doesn’t like that, but that’s it.”
Already missing Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-arnold, Joegomez and Thiago Alcantara because of injury, Liverpool have another issue to contend with after the versatile James Milner hobbled off with a hamstring problem.
Likely adding to Liverpool’s frustrationwas the sight of arguably their biggest threat to the title, Manchester City, regaining theirs scoring touch in a 5-0 win over Burnley a fewhours later to close the gap to the champions.
Mahrezhat-trick
There had been concerns about City’s once-prolific attack, with the team scoring just 10 goals in their first eight games. All it neededwasa visit from Burnley to get City flowing again.
Riyad Mahrez scored ahat-trick while Benjaminmendyand Ferran Torres added goals as Burnley were beaten 5-0 for a fourth straight time at Etihad Stadium. Three of those havecomein the league in successive seasons. City should be in the goals in their next three homegames, too, with relegation contenders Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle visiting in December. Itwas Mahrez’s first hattrick for City, while Torres scored his first Premier League goal having already netted for the club in the Champions League and English Leaguecupsince joining from Valencia.
Everton’s slump
Everton’s slide after their brilliant start to the season continued with a 1-0homeloss to Leeds.
After opening with four straight victories, Carlo Ancelotti’s side has wonjust one of the next six games and hasn’t kept a clean sheet since the opening weekend.
Raphinha grabbed a 79th-minute winner for Leeds with a 25mdrive, and the Brazilian winger impressed throughout in just his second start since moving from Rennes in the summertransfer window.
In an end-to-end contest at Goodison Park, Jack Harrison struck the post with aheader and also had a shot cleared off the line.
First victory
West Bromwich Albion pickedup their first victory and left Sheffield United as the only winless team in the league with a 1-0 win at The Hawthorns.
Conor Gallagher’s 13th-minute goal lifted Westbromout of the bottom three, until tomorrow at least.
Sheffield United squandered a string of late chances— Lys Mousset shot over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box in stoppage time— and remained in last place and on just one point after 10 games. Last season, the teamwas challenging for European qualification until the last few games.
— AP