Jürgen Klopp looked tired but strangely composed. After Liverpool FC’s unfortunate and highly controversial 1-2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening due to several bad decisions by the referees, the coach took part in television interviews, and in view of the game, even his harshest critics would have thought he was freaking out. But Klopp didn’t rage, but remained surprisingly calm under the circumstances. He praised the attitude and fighting spirit of his players and was even lenient when asked about the refereeing team: “Whoever made these mistakes didn’t do it on purpose. I know that. But it doesn’t help us.”
From Liverpool’s point of view, things couldn’t have gone any worse. It started with a red card for Curtis Jones after 26 minutes. After a duel with Yves Bissouma, referee Simon Hooper initially showed him a yellow card, but only after watching the video did he decide to send him off. A tough decision: Jones went into the duel energetically and hit Bissouma potentially dangerously in the lower leg – but only after his foot had touched the ball and slipped off it. A few minutes later, while outnumbered, Liverpool scored a goal through Luis Díaz, which was disallowed due to an alleged offside position. It turned out to be the referees’ worst mistake. Doubly bitter for Liverpool: In direct return, Tottenham took the lead through Heung-min Son.
And the misfortune continued. Liverpool equalized through Gakpo before half-time, but he was injured in the process. Diogo Jota came into play for him. It was a short stint for the Portuguese, as between the 68th and 69th minutes of the game the referee showed him yellow twice – the next dismissal. Jota couldn’t complain about the second yellow card – a tackle from behind – but he got the first one for a “tactical foul”, in which he firstly touched his opponent unintentionally and secondly only very delicately while running at full speed. Liverpool then bravely resisted Spurs’ pressure and were almost rewarded with a point. But in the sixth minute of injury time, German defender Joel Matip directed a sharp cross into his own net.
One could argue about the sending off, but when Liverpool’s opening goal was disallowed, the matter was clear: the decision was wrong, Diaz was clearly not offside. This was easy to see in the video recordings even without the actually obligatory guide line, but for unknown reasons it wasn’t even shown. The linesman raised his flag and the VAR did not intervene despite the obvious error. The English referee organization PGMOL released a statement after the game, which said it was a “significant human error”. The organization wants to launch an investigation into the incident.
This won’t change Liverpool’s first defeat of the season. After a draw on the first Premier League matchday, Liverpool had won the last five games. Such a good start was not necessarily expected. After the disappointing fifth place in the previous season and the failure to qualify for the Champions League, experienced players such as Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho left the club in the summer. In return, Dominik Szoboszlai was brought in from RB Leipzig for 70 million euros; Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton), Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich) and Wataru Endo (VfB Stuttgart) are the other additions.
Michael Horeni Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 5 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5
Despite the personnel changes, the team appears as a well-functioning unit. Liverpool fell behind early against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolverhampton and won the same way in the Europa League against Linz and in the League Cup against Leicester. He once described the teams with which Klopp won the Champions League in 2019 and the championship in 2020 as “mentality monsters”. When asked whether his new team could live up to this claim, the coach tempered his expectations. “It’s growing a little,” he said, “but I have no idea how big it will be.”
