Klopp blasts ‘soft’ penalty as Liverpool crashes at Arsenal

Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp remonstrates with Referee Michael Oliver after the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Ian Kington / IKIMAGES / AFP)

Jurgen Klopp was furious with the “soft” penalty decision that condemned Liverpool to a damaging 3-2 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday.

Klopp’s side was clinging on for a point until the 76th minute at the Emirates Stadium when Thiago Alcantara was punished for his challenge on Gabriel Jesus.

There was only minimal contact from Thiago as Jesus went to ground in the Liverpool area, but the penalty was awarded after a VAR check.

Bukayo Saka converted the spot-kick to leave Liverpool languishing 14 points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Klopp confronted referee Michael Oliver on the pitch after the final whistle and made it clear he felt the incident was not worthy of a penalty.

“The situation around the penalty, of course, we should have cleared it. Now I saw it and I think you can imagine I don’t think it is a clear penalty, it is a very soft one,” Klopp told BBC Sport.

“I think it is a situation where the referee could have another look at it in real time.”

Klopp’s frustration was magnified as Liverpool has now won just two of their first eight league games in their worst start for 10 years.

Their latest sloppy defeat was a far cry from the dynamic performances that took them close to winning the quadruple last season.

But Klopp was convinced Liverpool deserved something from the game after they controlled a large part of the first half.

Darwin Nunez and then Roberto Firmino grabbed equalizers before Saka’s winner and Klopp said: “In general it was a good away game against a good side. We caused them a lot of problems, but stand here with no points.

“I saw a team with the right attitude and put in a proper fight. A couple of things went against us, but we are not blind, we see we could have done better in moments.

“I think the game is a draw, but today we have nothing.”