Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, criticized the decision not to give his team a penalty against Luton Town on Sunday, saying his players were the victims of “wrestling” tactics.
At Kenilworth Road, the Reds required an equalizer from substitute Luis Diaz in the 95th minute to force a 1-1 draw after the hosts had taken the lead via on-loan Tahith Chong in the second half.
When captain Virgil van Dijk was hauled down inside the area while attempting to attack a corner, Klopp thought his team was not awarded a spot kick. The manager was then booked for protesting the call after VAR decided not to step in.
The Liverpool manager expressed his displeasure with the host team’s strategy for defending set pieces into their box during his post-game press conference.
“Wrestling is evident in the way they defend set pieces, even though I greatly admire what they do,” Klopp remarked. It’s on the incorrect side of it, not the edge. However, because they are not penalized, why should they alter it?
There was some dispute over that (over the touchline). We believed that Virgil’s opponent’s takedown of him was a solid point scored in wrestling, not the goal itself, before they scored.”
With Diaz’s goal, Liverpool’s top five scorers extended their winning run.
However, Darwin Nunez wasted a fantastic opportunity in the second half at 0-0 when he fired over the crossbar from close range after Mohamed Salah had knocked him down.
“All five of our offensive players are on the team,” Klopp continued. They simply can’t play all of the games we have available. In the unlikely event that one has a minor issue, the remaining four should be suitable, and we should be able to place three of them together. We have little children after one, or Harvey (Elliott) can go on. We’ve got various answers.
“Darwin is a total team player. Sometimes, though, you just can’t get back up and start over.Â
He made a wonderful pass on his first opportunity, first touched the top of the ball, and then nailed it against the crossbar. It’s evident that the entire team wasn’t in the spirit to score goals today, which is detrimental.
But Darwin’s involvement in almost everything sets him apart from the others. Although I believe that our finishing wasn’t the issue today, we should have done a better job. We would have resolved one or two situations if we had produced more other things. Although a 1-0 victory here would have pleased me, we need to have performed better.”
