Jason McAteer believes that Liverpool were fortunate not to have Trent Alexander-Arnold’s winning goal against Fulham on Sunday disallowed.
The former Reds midfielder was on duty for beIN SPORTS when he – along with fellow pundits Dwight Yorke, Richard Keys and Andy Gray – insisted that Kostas Tsimikas unlawfully shoved Bobby Decordova-Reid in contesting the 50-50 from which the ball dropped to our number 66 to finish to the net.
The 52-year-old stated [via Football365]: “I’ve got to admit, I thought there was [a foul]. Tsimikas, the way he challenged, he didn’t win the ball. He barged into the player. It’s a brave call to disallow that but for me that’s a foul.”
It seemed like the kind of decision which, on another day, could’ve gone the other way had a different referee been tasked with calling it.
However, the verdict from Dermot Gallagher on Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch on Monday was telling, with the former Premier League whistler – who was assessing the incident objectively – claiming that Tsimikas and Decordova-Reid ‘came together’ rather than the Liverpool man shoving or ‘leaning in on’ his opponent.
The Reds have already been dealt a rough hand by some officials in the top flight this season, so fans may argue that our luck is due to even itself out on that front.
The man whose opinion counted the most is Stuart Attwell, and thankfully he felt no need to blow for a foul in the lead-up to Trent’s winner.