Shearer and Richards agree on penalty controversy in Liverpool win v Chelsea
Alan Shearer and Micah Richards believe Liverpool should not have had a penalty overturned in the 2-1 win against Chelsea on Sunday (20 October).
Referee John Brooks pointed to the spot for the second time in the first half at Anfield as Robert Sanchez was adjudged to have fouled Curtis Jones, but Brooks decided to overturn his decision after an on-field VAR review.
The co-hosts discussed the decision on The Rest is Football [21 October, 4:02] believing that under the new rules of the game, Brooks should have stuck with his original decision.
Shearer said: “We were told about the high bar and sometimes winning the ball or getting a touch to the ball is not necessarily enough. If you wipe the player out, then also that can be deemed as a foul or as a penalty and that’s what I thought it was.
“And I thought once the referee had given it then it was one of those where he was never going to overturn it and I was really surprised he did.”
Richards added: “On this one I have to agree with Alan, in terms of it wasn’t a howler so just stick with the referee’s decision.”
Liverpool nearly shoot themselves in the foot against Chelsea
Arne Slot came out on the other side in what was considered his first real test as Liverpool boss but the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story of what occurred at Anfield.
The Reds could have won the match by a two or three-goal margin and spurned several golden opportunities to put the game to bed before Nicolas Jackson salvaged an equaliser for Chelsea against the run of play.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Jones were the culprits before the latter ultimately secured the three points for Liverpool with a well-taken finish minutes after the equaliser. However, this is becoming a worrying trend on Merseyside.
While results are all that matters, the Reds have a torrid schedule ahead with Arsenal at Emirates Stadium next in the Premier League and, with Diogo Jota confirmed to miss the trip to RB Leipzig midweek, the side must be more clinical.
Regardless of whether or not Jones should have won a second penalty, the Reds cannot afford to allow high-intensity matches against top-level opposition to be decided by the officials and should have been running away with it at the time of the incident.
All the players need to step up in the coming weeks and send a statement of intent to Arsenal and Manchester City that Liverpool are ready to mount a challenge for the Premier League crown this year.
In other Liverpool news, Jamie Carragher shares his verdict on Mohamed Salah’s contract at the Reds.
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