Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool were denied a clear penalty as the Reds suffered a 1-0 defeat against Southampton at St Mary’s on Monday night.
Former Liverpool striker Danny Ings scored the only goal of the match inside the opening two minutes, as the Reds’ Premier League title defence suffered a massive setback.
There were two instances in the game that Liverpool felt the decision didn’t go in their favour. First, Georginio Wijnaldum had a shot blocked by the hand of Jack Stephens, and secondly, Sadio Mane went down under a challenge from Kyle Walker-Peters.
Klopp felt that the handball was a clear penalty while the German was also unhappy with the treatment Mane received from the referee, Andre Marriner.
Although the Reds boss suggested that he is not looking for excuses, he couldn’t help but vent out his frustration by comparing his side’s lack of good fortune in getting penalties with that of rivals Manchester United. It’s a fact that the Red Devils have won more penalties in two years than Klopp’s Liverpool had managed in five and a half years.
Popular football pundit Gary Lineker took to Twitter to react to Klopp’s comment, saying – “Bullets fired. If I was a fan of @ManUt I’d take that as a massive compliment.”
Bullets fired. If I was a fan of @ManUtd I’d take that as a massive compliment. https://t.co/HHNVZEOQ8y
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) January 4, 2021
Despite Liverpool’s second defeat of the season, the Reds remain top of the table on goal difference but have taken only two points from their past three games.
Interestingly, both the Manchester clubs will overtake Liverpool if they win their games in hand.
Liverpool were below par throughout the game. Klopp may regret his decision to start with Jordan Henderson in defence, he should now be more worried about the performance of the from three. Mohamed Salah failed to have a shot on target, as did fellow forward Robert Firmino.
