Roy Hodgson has criticized the refereeing that took place in Crystal Palace’s 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool in the Premier League.
The Eagles gave Jürgen Klopp’s side a bloody nose as a Jean Philippe Mateta penalty gave the hosts a second-half lead.
Mateta was fouled by young defender – Jarell Quansah – in the 18-yard box and play was halted for referee, Andy Madley, to check the VAR monitor at the side of the pitch, and the official reversed his initial decision to wave play on and awarded Crystal Palace with the spot kick.
Alisson Becker, who was returning from injury, was unable to stop the French forward from sitting home and Liverpool looked to face an uphill battle to drag themselves above Arsenal to the top of the Premier League table.
The Reds were handed a lifeline as Jordan Ayew was shown a controversial second yellow card and sent off to hand Klopp’s team a man advantage. Mohamed Salah netted his 200th goal for Liverpool only one minute later to level the game up, with only one outcome looking likely in the final 15 minutes.
Indeed, Harvey Elliott stepped up for his side as the substitute cut inside from the left flank before unleashing a precise effort into the bottom corner of the Palace goal to seal the 2-1 win for the visiting team.
Hodgson wasn’t happy with some of the decisions that were made by the officials on the day, including the Ayew dismissal, however.
The former Liverpool manager was quick to point out that his team had been hard done by during his post-match interview with TNT Sports, saying:
“We’ve had a lot of hard ones to take, this is just another one along the way, but I’ve got to say, I’m gutted for the players because I’m gutted really about the way the game panned out.”
Continuing on – and questioning exactly how fair the treatment of both sides was – Hodgson explained:
“I think that having to play the game with 10 men for the last 15 or 20 minutes was unbelievably harsh on us. I don’t believe it was worthy of the way we played; the amount of fouls we committed were about the same as Liverpool’s, maybe one or two less.”
Jordan Ayew’s first yellow card
Ayew’s initial booking came when Liverpool looked to take a free-kick quickly but the Ghanaian forward was unable to get out the way of Virgil van Dijk before the Reds could do so.
It is a scenario that plays out in many games across different leagues each week, and to stick to the usual ruling, the yellow card was the correct decision.
The veteran Crystal Palace boss admitted he was not a fan of the centre-back’s role in the yellow card:
“Van Dijk took the opportunity to get him the first yellow card by kicking the ball against him from a few yards away. That’s very disappointing. I think if you’re Liverpool Football Club, you don’t need players of Van Dijk’s quality and status in the game to try and get a player a yellow card.”
It was not only the first yellow card for his attacker that Hodgson took issue with as the 76-year-old questioned the call: “The second one I thought was a good challenge. Even if it was deemed a foul – let’s say it was deemed a foul, which it could be – it wasn’t a yellow card offence.”
Many will be on the same side of the argument as the ex-England manager as the perceived offence by Ayew pales in comparison to some of the fouls that are committed in the Premier League that go unpunished.
In an almost sad statement during his interview, Hodgson – who is expected to leave Crystal Palace at the end of the 2023/24 season – claimed:
“We’re talking too much about the referees. The fact is I’m afraid I’ve been in football a long time, and game’s like today make me realise when the days comes to leave it behind I won’t be missing anything.”
The reason given for this was: “The refereeing and the referees. I’m absolutely sick about the handball interpretations. I’m sick about these yellow cards for time-wasting. I’m sick about player behaviour.”
“When I do step away from the game I won’t be missing anything” “It’s sad to watch games like that” “I don’t feel positive, I’m just gutted”
Palace will look to brush themselves off ahead of an upcoming league clash at the Etihad Stadium.
