Great Dúbravka a sad hero, Klopp can’t hold his emotions or ring

Six goals between Liverpool and Newcastle to start the year. High tempo from the first minute which lasted until the final whistle. This was evidenced by the emotion of Jürgen Klopp, who threw his cap away in the 4-2 set-up out of annoyance towards the referee. What are the post-match reactions from England?

Liverpool fans have been complaining throughout the season about the referee’s statements against their team. The disallowed goal against Tottenham, Martin Odegaard’s missed handball against Arsenal and Curtis Jones’ sending off against Spurs are just a small list.

Refereeing errors on both sides, Klopp got angry

Even against Newcastle, Klopp and his players were often upset. Bruno Guimaraes could have seen three yellows instead of one when the referee was stricter, and at the end of the game Klopp was angered by an unpunished foul on Joe Gomez. The German coach threw his cap in anger and even lost his wedding ring for a moment.

In any case, the key controversial decisions went for the Reds. Already the first penalty after a tackle on Luis Diaz was slightly fancied by the Colombian, and for the second one it could be argued that Diogo Jota went for it outright. “I don’t think the second tackle was a penalty. On the contrary, I think Longstaff was fouled,” said away coach Eddie Howe after the game.

But the second part of the statement was more due to post-match emotion, Sean Longstaff went down after a shoulder to shoulder tackle. Martin Dúbravka came out of the ensuing counter-attack as the underdog, gently touching Jota and taking the penalty from which Salah made the final decision at 4-2.

Dúbravka put the brakes on a record-breaking attack

The Slovakian goalkeeper was perhaps the best on the pitch despite Liverpool’s four goals. Sky Sports gave him a mark of eight. He grabbed perhaps three goals from Darwin Nunez and faced 15 shots on target. The Reds had the highest xG since the 2010/11 season when this metric counts in the Premier League – 7.27.

Either way, even these offensive numbers mean the Reds are a force to be reckoned with in the title fight. “Liverpool is a title contender because they have a great manager who knows how to get it done. Plus four world-class players, Alisson, Trent Alexander Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk,” Sky Sports expert Gary Neville said in his podcast.

And as far as people’s opinions on social media are concerned, there are mainly two recurring themes – that the penalty on Jota was very harsh and was more of a simulation and that Liverpool could have won 10-0. Either way, even six goals offered a show that must have entertained everyone at the start of 2024.

Source: Sky Sports, Instagram