Liverpool's narrow 3-2 victory over Manchester City today puts the Reds in a commanding position to go on an win the league title, but things could've gone differently if Mamdou Sakho's careless challenge on Edin Dzeko had resulted in a penalty for City. Luckily, Mark Clattenburg decided against awarding a spot-kick, but according to Manchester United legend Gary Neville, and LFC legends Jimmy Case and Jamie Carragher, the referee got it wrong.
Analysing Sakho's mistimed tackle on Sky Sports**, Quinn called it a 'ridiculous challenge', and Carra admitted that he thought 'it was a penalty'. Neville added:
"That was a reckless challenge from Sakho. I'm not quite sure what he's doing. He misses the ball and follows through. It's a penalty"
Case agreed with Neville:
"I don't think Mamadou Sakho got any of the ball there. He's a very lucky boy".
I couldn't find a gif or a video of the challenge, but having watched the replay several times, it could've gone either way:
* Sakho - who cost LFC £16m last summer - totally missed the ball, and made contact with Dzeko, who - to his credit - stayed on his feet.
* With Sakho on the ground, Dzeko then realised that an opportunity existed to win a penalty, so he dived, which is probably what cost him the decision.
* Some will argue that Dzeko should've just dropped to the ground when he felt contact from Sakho (something that many cynical players do), and if he'd done that, Clattenburg probably would've given the penalty.
* If the contact is significant enough to force a player down, he will go down naturally. If he just falls to the floor as a result of any kind of contact in the box (i.e. contact not sufficiently strong to cause him to lose balance), then it's cheating, plain and simple.
In this case, Dzeko did the honest thing and stayed up, then dived afterwards in a bid to win the penalty. Honesty and deception in the space of a few seconds (!)
Luckily, the ref didn't give the decision, but if he had, and City scored at that point in the game, the result may have turned out differently. Additionally, some Liverpool fans would probably be screaming blue murder about the injustice of it all, totally ignorant of their own hypocrisy.
I've lost count of the times that I've seen/heard LFC fans argue that going down in the box under the slightest pressure is okay. As always, the spurious argument seems to be: It's okay to cheat...as long as Liverpool gain an advantage.
Well, if Dzeko had gone down under Sakho's challenge, and the resulting penalty led to a City victory, I sincerely doubt those same fans would be so blase about cheating, especially if it ultimately led to Liverpool losing out on the Premier League title.
All's well that ends well, though. Onwards and upwards.
** Comments made during studio analysis at half-time.
Author: Jaimie K
Analysing Sakho's mistimed tackle on Sky Sports**, Quinn called it a 'ridiculous challenge', and Carra admitted that he thought 'it was a penalty'. Neville added:
"That was a reckless challenge from Sakho. I'm not quite sure what he's doing. He misses the ball and follows through. It's a penalty"
Case agreed with Neville:
"I don't think Mamadou Sakho got any of the ball there. He's a very lucky boy".
I couldn't find a gif or a video of the challenge, but having watched the replay several times, it could've gone either way:
* Sakho - who cost LFC £16m last summer - totally missed the ball, and made contact with Dzeko, who - to his credit - stayed on his feet.
* With Sakho on the ground, Dzeko then realised that an opportunity existed to win a penalty, so he dived, which is probably what cost him the decision.
* Some will argue that Dzeko should've just dropped to the ground when he felt contact from Sakho (something that many cynical players do), and if he'd done that, Clattenburg probably would've given the penalty.
* If the contact is significant enough to force a player down, he will go down naturally. If he just falls to the floor as a result of any kind of contact in the box (i.e. contact not sufficiently strong to cause him to lose balance), then it's cheating, plain and simple.
In this case, Dzeko did the honest thing and stayed up, then dived afterwards in a bid to win the penalty. Honesty and deception in the space of a few seconds (!)
Luckily, the ref didn't give the decision, but if he had, and City scored at that point in the game, the result may have turned out differently. Additionally, some Liverpool fans would probably be screaming blue murder about the injustice of it all, totally ignorant of their own hypocrisy.
I've lost count of the times that I've seen/heard LFC fans argue that going down in the box under the slightest pressure is okay. As always, the spurious argument seems to be: It's okay to cheat...as long as Liverpool gain an advantage.
Well, if Dzeko had gone down under Sakho's challenge, and the resulting penalty led to a City victory, I sincerely doubt those same fans would be so blase about cheating, especially if it ultimately led to Liverpool losing out on the Premier League title.
All's well that ends well, though. Onwards and upwards.
** Comments made during studio analysis at half-time.
Author: Jaimie K
Absolutely a penalty ought to have been awarded, Sakho should never have been sliding in there; lack of match fitness left him struggling as it did a couple of other less obvious moments in the game. Liverpool ought to have been awarded a penalty for Kompany's manhandling of Suarez, too. But the referee had an excellent game overall I thought.
ReplyDeleteYeah its a penalty can't argue with that, but every team fighting for title needs a bit of luck. I doremember how 6 points were stolen earlier this year by ref blunder against Chelsea and Manc. However I'm going to enjoy with the 3 points today. YNWA
ReplyDeleteWe can also feel grateful to Clattenburg for choosing not to book Suarez for diving (and it was a clear dive) when already on a yellow card. Suarez was playing pretty close to the edge for the whole match, as is his wont when things aren't quite going his way. As for the Sakho challenge I'm in agreement; it was comical, though Dzeko seemed to step over it with only minimal contact then threw himself down after the ball got away from him. He could've gone down and it would have been a clear penalty, so I guess he deserves our gratitude for choosing to remain vertical for just a split second longer.
ReplyDeleteis there any need to slander all LFC fans? for a moment that may or may not have happened?
ReplyDeletePlease read the article properly. I said 'some' LFC fans, not all.
ReplyDeleteClattenberg is a coward - the worst possible characteristic for a referee. Having booked Suarez already, he didn't have the courage to book him again for diving, not once, not twice, but three times. He is regularly criticised for his refereeing performances and today was an example of why that happens. He needs to grow a pair, because cowardice is likely to continue effecting his performances. In the meantime, well done to Liverpool and we'll see if the 'we're gonna win the league' performance from Liverpool fans is premature. It will be so, so disappointing for them and of course 'Stevie' if it proves to be.
ReplyDeleteTaking this from a different angle on a similar subject...
ReplyDeleteSuarez could have really cost us today.
It seemed to me that when Clattenburg made the decision not to send him off for the dive, he decided that Suarez would not be given a call the rest of the day.
And that seemed at times to affect other players on the pitch when they would get fouled. Especially the Sturridge foul in the box that was not called.
For as talented as he is and for all he has contributed to our amazing season thus far, Luis Suarez put us in a very tricky situation when he dived.
Totally agree. He could've sabotaged the whole game.
ReplyDeleteIt was not "natural-looking" on Dzeko's part.
ReplyDeleteSakho put himself in precarious situation, and if Dzeko had gone down more "naturally", I think it would have been called. But it just looked so much like a dive.
I feel I understand why Clattenburg didn't give the penalty... I really couldn't hold it against him though if he did give it though.
I felt he was more claiming the penalty than diving.
ReplyDeleteCoulda woulda shoulda. I suppose every silver lining has a cloud though Jaimie.
ReplyDeleteI think Clattenberg was very aware of the occasion and emotions of the day and made a judgement call . For that an absolute brilliant football match wasn't spoilt . I don't condone diving and hopefully Luis realises how lucky he was but due to his reputation he has had genuine decisions go against him in the past .......
ReplyDeleteOverall I thought the ref handled this v emotionally charged match well .
That's probably a more apt way to put it. There was definitely contact.
ReplyDeleteI just felt he had little intention of actually getting to the ball, and had more of an inkling to get contacted.
Sakho just whiffed...if he connects like he intends, then the ball is 30 rows up and this is a non-event. If Dzeko goes down it's a penalty...but he hesitates..and then dives.
ReplyDeleteAlways the negative on here. Footballs all about ifs and buts. If the refs had done their jobs right in the away City and Chelsea games the Prem would already be all but won.
ReplyDeleteWho cares if it should have been a pen or if Suarez should have gone. Neither decision was given
Except MOTD just showed it WASN'T a dive.
ReplyDeleteIn MOTD's opinion.
ReplyDeleteSent from Samsung Mobile
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AndWithSuchSimplicity
Except MOTD just showed it WASN'T a dive.
6:51 p.m., Sunday April 13
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AndWithSuchSimplicity’s comment is in reply to Jaimie K:
Totally agree. He could've sabotaged the whole game.
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We've had our fair share of bad desicions against us this season in big games ie Chelsea game etos foul on Suarez in box was a stone waller, and eto's tackle on Henderson was a blatant red card, also 1-0 up at city and sterling gets put threw and scores only for it to be massively wrongly offside that alone gives us 2 points more and takes 2 off Chelsea and 2 off city, so we're not going to complain if a big desicion goes our way !
ReplyDeleteBacked up with video evidence.
ReplyDeleteAnd stills.....
;)
He wasn't a 'coward' during our penaltyfest at Old Trafford......
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think when Sakho whiffed the clearance Dzeko thought he could get the ball, turn the corner start marauding on the end line looking for someone to dish a tap-in to. When he realized he couldn't make that corner, he went down. Get him drunk and ask him. I'll bet the truth comes out.
ReplyDeleteIt was a pen. We rode our luck today but champions will always have a bit of luck. I was emotionally drained by the end of the game
ReplyDelete1. I didn't see any contact when they showed the replay. I can't say definitively if there was or was not any contact.
ReplyDelete2. Let's assume that there was some contact, which we can also assume was minimal at best.
3. Seeing as how there was minimal contact, the fact that Suarez went down as if he were shot by a sniper, it leads me to believe it was a dive.
Right, and furthermore there's no way he could have realistically been expected to give the handball on Skrtel. Incredibly difficult to see with all the bodies in there going for the ball. It certainly was a handball, but I think given the circumstances, that's part of the reason why Pellegrini wasn't going crazy about it.
ReplyDeleteI think Pellegrini has a valid case for Suarez not being sent off though.
Boo how :(
ReplyDeleteIt's called discussing a major talking point in the match. Are Carra and case 'negative' for daring to discuss it too? Perhaps you should go to some other site that suits your restrictive view of what should and should not be discussed?
ReplyDeletehaha... brilliant editing on first clip..2nd clip goes great on silent with Gerry and the Pacemakers providing the sound track
ReplyDeleteAlmighty = Rogers?
ReplyDeleteI was saying the exact same thing to the mrs today. He's synonymous with all things liverpool
ReplyDeleteThe picture says it all, any intellectual will notice that although Sakho went for the ball and Dzeko has a chance to avoid him, but makes a dive, if this was a penalty then so would be Suarez claimed foul too. 3-2 is the correct result.
ReplyDeleteHe gets around does the Everton goalie haha
ReplyDeleteGary Neville, you rat got to eat sakho shit!
ReplyDeleteShould gave been a penalty alright
ReplyDeleteSakho had a fearsome reputation in France, people were afraid of him, perhaps Dzeko was afraid of being injured, the fact that he had to hurdle a wild challenge is equivalent to being impeded
Sakho has horrible technique with kicking a ball also, so ungainly. He can't seem to get height and distance into his clearances. I guess we are stuck with him now :(
There actually was contact on the Suarez "dive" near Di Michelis. MOTD showed it, but I feared Suarez would be sent off. High pressure games seem to bring the demon inside him closer to the surface. Also, none of his nutmegs came off today. His antics cost him a legitimate penalty claim
It is encouraging that we won without Suarez and Sturridge doing particularly well. Sturridge is so greedy it's unreal
Absolute absolute but still we won the game,that's more important Lol...
ReplyDeleteYou serious? Sakho is immense. If Sakho is incapable of kicking a ball properly then he wouldn't even be playing in the championship, let alone premier league and the french national team
ReplyDeleteHe looks awkward with his passes but he has good vision and it appears to work: his passing is accurate. He is just coming back from injury and this isn't the right moment to judge him.
ReplyDeletethere was contact on suarez you fucktard
ReplyDeleteHe was definitely looking for contact to "claim the penalty". But it wasn't a penalty.
ReplyDeleteGood non-call from Clattenburg. In fact, I thought Clattenburg was relatively very good today. Granted, if I was a Citeh fan, I may disagree and I could understand why they would.
The only thing I disagreed with was not sending Suarez off with a second yellow. That seemed pretty cut and dried to me. I don't think he wanted to send off anyone though for anything that wasn't egregious. I understand the logic of not wanting to mar a game of this magnitude... but that should be Suarez's problem for picking up stupid Yellows.
I totally disagree with Carra and Neville who called it at the time. He goes to ground but he has a clear path to the ball and it's only that he lunges that Dzeko even becomes involved. I don't even consider it a tackle. Sakho has position on the ball, he's in front of Dzeko and Dzeko is in no position to claim he's in possession or even has a clear line to the ball himself. The only problem is that Sakho swipes at it like a lunatic and misses and then looks clumsy. If defenders are required to stay on their feet and simply never end up on the ground near an attacking player then I think the rules have gone to far. A defender should be afforded the option of stretching to get to the ball even if it means they go off their feet. What the attacking players then do with that is often incidental and thus why it's not a penalty. Certainly it wasn't given at the time and I think that's the right decision, I don't think it was at all lucky.
ReplyDeleteDzeko was a sportsman....he dived thereafter...no Penalty...LFC won
ReplyDeleteBit of luck?, Saurez should have been sent off for diving, Ian Wright even admitted it. Jamie Carragher and Jimmy Case also admitted Sakho should have been sent off. Liverpool fans claiming otherwise are bias morons.
ReplyDeleteChris lets face it, you have no place to comment because you choose to support a cheating and dirty club like Liverpool. You choose to surround yourself with these Liverpool fans so don't start crying when your fan base shame you.
ReplyDeleteYes the wrong judgemental call, wasn't spoilt? yes for you scumbag Liverpool fans yes. jog on.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a penalty anyway to be honest. Sakho missed the ball and that's all there is to it. It happens to keepers all the time. They slide in, the attacker kicks the ball into the stands and falls down when the keeper touches him - penalty. Thank God it wasn't given alright and we can say the balance on penalties is definitely in our favour this season. Nevertheless, we deserve our championship when we win it.
ReplyDeleteI thought Moses fought well when he came in. His head was absolutely right and considering he probably won't be here next season, that's definitely to his credit. Well done to him.
ReplyDeleteHow will we do? We will fogging anihilate them! That's how we will do!
ReplyDeleteHaha amazing team talk...you'd think he delivered the Gettysburg address :-)
ReplyDeleteNot on MOTD where contact with Suarez was shown. You can hardly call Hanson and Hamann biased - shirley....:-)
ReplyDeleteSakho was more difficult, Yes clumsy but was the ball too far ahead and whilst I don't agree with one offsetting the other Suarez was also fouled in the box. Pelligrini showed some class and did not complain.
All fans only see things from their perspective. Liverpool fans are no different.
ReplyDeleteHe was pretty lucky. I don't really know why he dived in like that.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair there could have been quite a few penalties given in that game, for both teams.
Do you really think Liverpool are any more or less prone to cheating than City or any other club? Be honest and take the loss on the chin like we had to at yours......
ReplyDeleteLiverpool scored a perfectly good goal against City which was ridiculously judged to be offside when we played at the Etihad over the Christmas. City fans didn't wring their hands at the injustice and neither will I now. The decisions yesterday in our favour evened it up.
ReplyDeleteRespect to City fans for observing the 1 minute silence which was impeccable.
we should consider how many decisions went against liverpool as well if we agree with this article....everton away game,Mancity away and Chelski away game bad decisions against us cost us atleast 5 costly points....
ReplyDeleteAnd why was Suarez not yellow carded for a clear dive? Which would have seen him sent off? Sudeep - at the Etihad, Skrtel THREE times pulled Kompany to the ground at corners. Result - nothing. Liverpool and City were hard done by the ref at Etihad - yesterday, just City.
ReplyDeleteLet not controversial refs decisions detract from what was a great day and fantastic advert for English football . Had it all - brilliant football on the pitch , passion and emotion . But most of all what an example shown of mutual respect and dignity by rival supporters and managers .
ReplyDeleteYes it was reckless, lucky he missed both ball and player, plus Dzeko would not have stopped the ball from going out. ref made mistakes but overall i thought he was ok, good job he did not see Skirtels handball but that was a hard one to spot with so many players in the air. Must salute ALL fans around the country for the respect for the 96 Thankyou, just goes to show how many people around the country feel the need for justice to be done.
ReplyDeleteFROM MAN CITY FAN I RECKON.LOL
ReplyDeleteOh and BR singing along to YNWA - 'The Voice' next year perhaps ?
ReplyDeleteAsh, for the record it was not a dive by Suarez. It looked to be at the time, and i thought he was lucky to stay on. However, Alan Hansen showed on MOTD2 there was clear contact on Suarez
ReplyDeleteI am a liverpool fan have been known to be bias to Liverpool in controversial decisions but i don't know how any one possible can give this a penalty?
ReplyDelete1. dzeko hasn't touched the ball yet so the ball is lose
2. sakho gets to the ball first
3. IF he kicks that ball its not a penalty
4. he is less than a meter form the goal line and sees that he dosen't need to play the ball and let it go for a goal kick.
5. the only contact between the two players is dzeko kicking sakho in the head a large distance from the ball
to say that is a penalty you are wrong end of, cant understand how any one can see that as a foul anywhere on the pitch.
Dzeko was so far away from the ball it was more a case of him running into a prone Sakho than a foul by Sakho.
ReplyDeleteFew mixed feelings about these points. Firstly, the sakho/ dzeko one, sakho has been ridiculously clumsy flying in like that in the area, and a pen could very easily have been given, but I can also understand why it hasn't. Ball was going out anyway, Dzeko never had it under control, and the contact wasn't enough to take dzeko down, hence why he ended up diving after it had already gone out.
ReplyDeleteOn Suarez, very minimal contact was made, very minimal, so maybe that was why he didn't get his second yellow, but he was very lucky not to, and don't think anyone could really have moaned if he had of. He was embarrassing at times yesterday with his over reactions to contact. Why do it? Just take the contact for what it is and you should get the foul anyway. His overreactions yesterday, (and there were a few at west ham last week too), could have got him sent off, banned for a game at a vital time, and probably cost him the pen when Kompany pushed him. Ref sees his overreaction to contact (which was a pen for me), and doesn't give it. Dunno whether the title run in pressure is getting to him, or it's just desperation as we get closer to the title, but I hope rodgers has a word. Could seriously cost us if he does it again and gets banned for the chelsea game. On top of the fact it's a shame to see it creeping back into his game, after he looked to have worked hard to cut it out.
Finally on the Skrtel one, again we got away with one, but again as at west ham, where it went against us, think this just proves how difficult it is for a ref to see when there's bodies and limbs everywhere.
Thankfully we got away with them and still got the win, but hope it doesn't happen again and cost us in the next few games.
In the City game, I grant you Sterling's goal should have been awarded BEFORE Liverpool actually scored. But City should have been awarded a penalty for every corner they won. Skyrtel can't keep his hands to himself. He was at it again yesterday. If all the wrong decisions were put right in that first game, City would have won by a bigger margin. I think the same could be said of yesterday's game too.
ReplyDeleteApart from Skyrtel's handball and constant shirt pulling.
ReplyDeleteThe disallowed goal in the first game was not the only terrible decision. Skyrtel was fouling at every one of City's corners.
ReplyDeleteNailed on penalty, as was the theatrics by Dzeko,so if someone exaggerates a fall then don't give it, its cheating.
ReplyDeleteNo. That's a biased view. Unfortunately decisions are sometimes incorrect. Every team goes through this. What is clear is that Liverpool deserve to be top, at the moment. The table never lies.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Silva should have been sent off as well then. He wasn't even booked for diving. Refs should punish more for simulation but they often choose not to more often than not.
ReplyDeletewhether who dived or not i dnt care as long as we got the 3 points. when sterling scored a clear goal in the first leg at the etihad and denied by webb u city fools where rejoyicing now you are complaining shut up and move on..YNWA
ReplyDeleteYou calling me a moron is a complete bias you moron. If u see my earlier comment i was saying its a penalty and i'm just saying we having abit of luck in that issue. So do ManC. We should have win the game at Etihad earlier this season but we showed some class on that and we won this game. So save ur nuts for next time, well its a nice try better luck next time
ReplyDeleteSo Skyrtel wasn't fouling at every corner? You only remember the Sterling incident. And I'm biased? Liverpool didn't deserve to win yesterday's game. They were second best all of the second half and the end of the first. They got lucky. Nothing wrong with that, by the way. It's results that count at this stage of the season.
ReplyDeleteWho is Garry Neville and who cares what he thinks , ex united player can't see us winning
ReplyDelete