Tim Sherwood was insistent that Tottenham had unfairly missed out on a penalty following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s push on Ryan Sessegnon in the first-half of action.
The England international had initiated light contact against the Tottenham star, gently nudging him out of the way in a bid to win back possession.
“It’s a push. For me that’s a push. Anywhere else on the pitch, that’s a penalty,” the 53-year-old told Optus Sport.
It was a point Michael Owen couldn’t quite bring himself to fully agree with, though he did note he wouldn’t have been in uproar had the decision gone against his old club.
“There’s no question there’s a little shove,” the ex-Red told the broadcaster. “Whether it’s enough to give a penalty… you’re right on the threshold in my opinion. As it is, it’s sort of 50-50 and Liverpool sort of get away with it.”
The pundits’ thoughts on the matter contrasted quite clearly to Gary Lineker’s perception of the event with the latter claiming that the Academy graduate had stayed within the legal limits of contact allowed.
READ MORE: Gary Lineker comes to Trent’s defence online over contentious first-half moment
It’s a moment that’s already fuelled intense debates on Twitter and inevitably inspired ‘was it a penalty?’ shouts online, though it seems ridiculous to be putting the incident under the microscope and comparing it to Joao Cancelo’s red card against Fulham.
There is contact from our right-back but it would be ridiculous to see such physicality punished on a regular basis going forward.
We have to be careful, of course, as another official on another day may view such an incident very differently but it would have been rather harsh to see a spot-kick awarded after Sessegnon made more than a meal out of the challenge.