We hope Gaz isn’t going to check his mentions.
If you’re a Liverpool fan, at least you can take solace that your life following football is infinitely more exciting and drama-filled than pretty much anyone else.
At Anfield on Sunday afternoon, we officially reached peak Liverpool. There was the usual mix of brilliance and calamity, with some questionable refereeing, unfortunately, taking centre stage. While Liverpool fans will doubtless want to remember this game for Mohamed Salah’s brilliance, it will forever be tainted by two hugely controversial penalty calls.
The first one turned out to be immaterial. Harry Kane went down under the challenge of Loris Karius and was given the decision. It looked soft. There was contact, yes, but it looked soft. Kane also appeared to be offside as the ball was played to him. However, much to everyone’s surprise, his effort from 12 yards was woeful, hit straight at a relieved Karius who punched it away.
But then things really took a turn. Moments later, Salah sent the Kop into utter bedlam after a brilliant solo effort which culminated in the Egyptian lifting the ball high into the Spurs net and wheeling away in jubilation.
Of course, it was short-lived. In the 95th-minute, Virgil van Dijk swung a leg in the direction of Erik Lamela. The Dutch defender clearly pulled his leg away but the Argentine went down in a heap anyway. Despite initially waving play on, referee Jon Moss called it back after catching his linesman’s flag waving for a penalty. After a brief consultation, the penalty was given. Kane stepped up and made no mistake the second time, rifling a venomous effort into the bottom corner.
As Liverpool fans fumed at the injustice that snatched away three precious points, Gary Neville said the van Dijk-Lamela incident was a clear penalty.
“It looked like a penalty from here,” he said via Sky Sports.
“I shouted penalty! I’ve done that one myself, where you don’t see the attacker coming across you, you control and then all of a sudden he’s there. It just looked a clear penalty.”
As you can imagine, Twitter blew up with Neville hate.
https://twitter.com/cramerLFC/status/960225352575528960
I really like Gary Neville as a commentator and pundit, he’s worked very hard in not be biased, not his usual fair self today and seems to have an agenda against a few #LFC players.
— Simon (@SimonBrayLFC) February 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/BillyBillyHick/status/960225209134526465
Gary neville reckons this was “reckless” by karius. To think he actually gets paid to chat utter shit at times. Unreal. https://t.co/YdcSRLUC65
— Gallerz (@Gallerz) February 4, 2018
Not only disgraceful officiating but also appalling punditry from Neville and Redknapp.
How anyone could think either of those incidents were penalties is beyond ridiculous.
Liverpool should make a formal complaint.— Ian McCue (@edward__ian) February 4, 2018
Gary Neville speaks a lot of v authoritative shite
— John (@Monster_mnuch) February 4, 2018
Cheating bastard Kane!!! And the ref is a fucking joke!!! Gary Neville is such a biased manc twat!!!
— Always a Red (@55_simply) February 4, 2018
Turns out Lamela was offside as well. Quality. Cheers lino mate. Great stuff. pic.twitter.com/9zJv4nBsyU
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) February 4, 2018
