‘Don’t talk to me about rules’ – Klopp attempts to make sense of controversial Liverpool decision
Jurgen Klopp admitted “I really have no idea” if Pascal Gross should have been sent off for Brighton against Liverpool, stating “don’t talk to me about rules”.
Other than a slip up against Tottenham last week which was influenced by VAR, the Reds have looked fairly imperious this season. That’s in stark contrast to last term, when they were largely poor, and while they recovered, could only finish fifth in the Premier League.
Currently, they’re third, though that could change depending on the result of Arsenal versus Manchester City. In any case, Liverpool have won five of their eight league games so far, and one of only two draws came in their latest game against Brighton.
Klopp’s men went a goal down in the 20th minute, and looked behind the game for a while until Mohamed Salah cropped up 20 minutes later, before the Reds were awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time, Salah slotting that home, too.
They held their lead for the majority of the second-half, before Lewis Dunk found himself in the right spot in the box to slot home an equaliser in the 78th minute, to take home a point for his side.
There was yet another moment of controversy a week after Liverpool received an apology from PGMOL for an incorrect decision being given against them by VAR, when Gross brought down Dominik Szoboszlai in the box for a penalty, but stayed on the pitch.
The law for such an incident have been posted on social media, suggesting the Brighton man should have actually been sent off.
Asked about the decision after the game, Klopp had no idea what the correct outcome was, but wanted to steer clear of having to interpret any rules after having been vocal about last week’s incident in which he felt his side were hard done by.
“I don’t know, I really have no idea, for what? It’s a yellow card I think, I don’t know, don’t talk to me about rules – I take what I get,” he told Sky Sports.
On the result, the manager was happy with the fight that was shown, but felt his side were slightly off the pace, and will work on getting up to 100 per cent after the international break.
“We have big expectations for ourself, I had a little talk in the dressing room that we leave with the right information and when we come back that we can prepare the next super important period,” Klopp added.
“Today I saw the boys fighting, just in decisive moments you have to play more football, in other decisive moments we have to be clear defensively – these two are areas where we are only 80 per cent, they cost us the result.”
READ MORE: Significant human errors hurt Liverpool again in draw with equally generous Brighton
