Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard was left frustrated by a penalty decision upon his return to Liverpool.
The clash marked Gerrard’s first return to Anfield as a manager and it wasn’t the dream reunion for the Liverpool legend as his former side edged the fixture 1-0.
Liverpool secured the win thanks to Mohamed Salah’ second-half penalty. The Egyptian had been brought down by Villa defender Tyrone Mings.
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Gerrard believed that Salah had fouled Mings before the roles reversed and stated that he was disappointed the referee had not had a second look at the decision.
“I thought Liverpool were better in terms of general play. Their style was better than ours, but we’ve done so well to contain them for large periods.
“Ultimately the game has been decided by a penalty. There were two penalty incidents in the game, Liverpool got theirs – if you look at that one, Salah fouls Mings first.
“It’s always hard to take when you lose football matches. We knew it was going to be a containing job. You have to ride the first 20-25 minutes against sides like this. We finished the game stronger, with more belief and some good opportunities.
“If an arm goes anywhere near Alisson, it’s a foul. So why isn’t a foul given for Danny Ings? They are the questions I’d like answering, but I can’t answer them right now.
“In hindsight I should have thrown a bit more at it a bit earlier, but you have to be careful Liverpool don’t hit you for two, three or four. We’ve lost to a soft penalty because if you watch it properly, Tyrone’s been fouled first. The disappointing thing is that the referee hasn’t gone to look at it.
“In terms of commitment and application, I couldn’t be more pleased and proud. We have a tough game at Norwich in midweek. It’s an opportunity for us to go there, bounce back and get a positive result.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised Salah’s skill to earn the penalty.
“Absolutely insane. We all think penalty,” the German said.
“Everybody wishes in the moment to take the penalty but he finishes it off. The whole game was not the easiest but the triangles we had on the right and left wing was really outstanding. In the end we did not have enough bodies in the box in the first half.”
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