Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, has accused Mikel Arteta of putting pressure on referee Michael Oliver to give Arsenal favourable decisions during their match on Sunday.
In a dramatic encounter between Premier League giants, the Gunners scored a statement win at the Emirates Stadium. In the aftermath of Arsenal’s celebrations, Oliver has attracted considerable criticism for the judgments he made during the game.
The primary points of criticism have been the refusal to award a penalty to depart for an apparent handball by Gabriel, as well as the decision to point to the spot after Thiago fouled Gabriel Jesus.
Klopp was also angry at Arteta’s actions, which resulted in Joe Gomez receiving a yellow card for time-wasting.
“The situation around the penalty happens, I think everyone agrees we should’ve kicked that ball a bit earlier over the roof, we didn’t do that, the ball comes back, again, it’s very soft, if, if, if… but we can’t take that back,” Klopp told Viaplay.
“First half we don’t get that back, that’s the handball from Gabriel, the ref tells us we can talk to him after the game, we can ask him what does he think and he will tell me this was no handball but this is a foul, that’s obviously not necessary this conversation.
“There were a couple of situations, let me say it like this, again, the result is the result, done. But Joe Gomez’s yellow card, a defender, a yellow card for this throw-in situation. In the first half I don’t know how often and how long Arsenal were looking for an option in a throw-in yet nothing happened, and I’m fine with that.
“But Joey is there and Mikel is having a go at the ref and then he [Oliver] says, ‘okay, yellow card’ from a distance and you think, ‘yellow card, for that?’. So again, nothing to do with the result, just these situations, they don’t help but you’re right, they’re useless conversations [with the referee].”
Former Liverpool star John Barnes was also critical of Oliver’s performance, insisting that the penalty Jesus won was soft. But Barnes also admitted that the Reds have been far from their best this season.
