“It’s not our type of play,” said a high and mighty Dominik Szoboszlai in response to suggestions Alexander Isak should have gone down to win a penalty for Liverpool against Arsenal. He must have missed his teammate’s abhorrent nonsense in the 79th minute.
Liverpool should have been awarded a penalty. If Isak had gone down or complained even a tiny bit then VAR would have intervened. That’s no excuse for the officials at Stockley Park, who are supposed to ‘check everything’ and patently aren’t.
It was Exactly What VAR Was Brought In For insofar as it was a difficult foul for Andy Madley to have spotted on the pitch and because Isak failed to signpost it.
Reds boss Andoni Iraola confirmed he will “definitely” tell Isak to go to ground in future while Virgil van Dijk bemoaned VAR inaction despite the aid of “more than 50 cameras”.
And Szoboszlai offered a superior take on the controversial moment, made all the more absurd thanks to the “embarrassing” show of play-acting from his teammate not long before he conducted the interview.
“It’s a penalty,” Szoboszlai said. “I don’t know what they expect from us: to dive or something. I don’t think we are the type of team or players to do that but from now on we might need to do it.
“If Alex falls down it’s a clear penalty. Timber doesn’t really care about the ball and maybe if he doesn’t pull Alex’s shirt Alex can head it in the goal. We are just one penalty less and that’s a big difference.
“Should we be more streetwise? It is not our type of play. I don’t think in this moment you can think this way that ‘oh, let me wait for someone touching me and I’ll fall down’.
“No, he is focusing on the ball and he wants to head the ball in the net. But if you interfere with your hand on his back then he might not do it, then you take a chance from his point of view and it’s a penalty.
“Everyone sees it differently but I don’t think you can see this one different.”
Alexis Mac Allister evidently needs a swift lesson in what is or isn’t Liverpool’s “type of play” after the midfield endured a slight touch on the forehead courtesy of Noni Madueke in the 79th minute and crumpled to the ground as though he’d been poleaxed.
“I am delighted [Madueke] never got sent off there,” Carragher said in response to Mac Allister’s nonsense on Sky Sports.
“We have got to be strong in calling people out and saying ‘this is embarrassing.’
“It has got to stop, it’s ridiculous. I can’t stand it.
“If someone puts their head back then butts, of course it’s a red card. But this stuff about a head-to-head, and if someone touches the other one goes down and it’s a red card?
“As a game, as football, people in the Premier League and supporters [must] call your own people out for it.
“I am a Liverpool fan and that’s a joke from Mac Allister. It’s got to stop.
“People are trying to game the system because they know that they can. Red cards are being given for it.
“Whether it’s from Howard Webb, the Premier League, the managers — stop getting red cards for this.”
Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes was branded “embarrassing” by Gary Neville after a similarly pathetic charade in the first half.
There are perpetrators in every team and to suggest that Liverpool are somehow above diving would have been utter drivel even without the most blatant example of simulation as you’re ever likely to see in a game of football.
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