Jamaal Lascelles is a good defender, but he’s really pushing his luck with these comments…
The Newcastle captain, who played in Liverpool’s 2-0 Anfield win at the weekend, reckons the incident in the final minute with Mo Salah wasn’t a penalty or even a foul!
For those who missed it, here it is again:
By the way this happened about 5 minutes ago.
Salah could have scored which would go towards a potential golden boot.
and Lascelles would have been sent off, and Newcastle play Soton next week who are fighting for survival too. pic.twitter.com/bpSnjokG5H
— Buck (@LogicalFan) March 3, 2018
It’s one of the most blatant fouls we’ve seen on a football pitch, and a penalty because it continues into the box – but somehow – Lascelles disagrees!
“It looked like it was a penalty, but I touched the ball and it was outside of the box so it wasn’t,” Lascelles told the Northern Echo.
“Obviously the initial reaction from everybody, and probably why the referee stood on the spot, was because they thought it wasn’t a penalty.
“It did look like a penalty, but I’ve watched it back and I do get a slight touch on the ball, so it was outside the box anyway. The referee’s made the right decision.”
Mind-boggling…
There’s no way he actually believes what he’s saying, is there?
Liverpool won 2-0 which means we can almost shrug the incident off, but the race for the top four is tight and goal difference my affect final position.
That being said, our game with Manchester United this Saturday will have a larger bearing.
We travel to Old Trafford at lunchtime, with our rivals two points ahead having beat Crystal Palace from 2-0 down last night.