“I’m really upset” – One thing hugely annoyed Andoni Iraola despite Liverpool win on Sunday
Andoni Iraola was left ‘really upset’ after Liverpool’s win over Crystal Palace on Sunday despite the positive, morale-boosting result for his team.
Having begun November with defeats to Arsenal and Fenerbahce, the Reds went to Selhurst Park in search of a pick-me-up in their final game prior to the international window, and they duly got in the form of a 3-1 victory.
Goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak had the points secured well before a stoppage-time penalty when, in a clash of heads between Milos Kerkez and Dario Osorio, the Hungarian was deemed to be the perpetrator and referee Tony Harrington pointed to the spot.
Iraola ‘upset’ over penalty decision
Eddie Nketiah converted from 12 yards to deny Liverpool a fifth Premier League clean sheet of the campaign, and speaking to Sky Sports shortly after the final whistle, Iraola’s frustration over the awarding of the penalty was clear.
The Basque said: “I’m very upset [with] what they are calling in our box penalties, and the ones they’re not calling in the other box. I know that we are 3-0, it’s the 95th minute, but I’m very upset.
“It’s a head-to-head but even Osorio’s head, after touching the ball, is the one going to Milos. It’s not Milos to Osorio. A clash of heads.
“OK, you can say 3-0, 95 minutes, nothing happens, but for me there is more than this. There is more because it’s not the first time this season and you compare and I’m really upset, yes.”
Iraola’s frustration is understandable
Thankfully the decision came at a point in the match where it had no bearing on the overall result, although we can still see why it put a dampener on the victory for Iraola.
To us, it seemed like a 50-50 contest between Kerkez and Osorio, with both players making a genuine attempt to win the ball and unfortunate to have clashed heads – most importantly, both were fine after the collision.
Harrington’s call didn’t have any major impact in the overall context of the day, but we take the Liverpool head coach’s point about the apparent inconsistency in terms of what referees deem to be a penalty and what they don’t.
There was certainly a far stronger case for a spot kick in our defeat to Arsenal last weekend when Jurrien Timber blatantly tugged Isak’s shirt inside the box, but somehow none of the officials on duty thought it was a foul.
It didn’t hurt the Reds yesterday, but hopefully on another occasion where there’s a stoppage-time penalty given in a game which is in the balance, we won’t end up having to talk about Iraola’s side being wronged by the referee and VAR.
