After his team’s loss to Liverpool, Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson lamented the referee and VAR, stating he is “disillusioned” with the game.c
Roy Hodgson, the former Liverpool boss, has expressed his dissatisfaction with football following a defeat of his current team, Crystal Palace, by his previous club. Liverpool managed to turn the tables and secure a 2-1 Premier League victory at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon, despite trailing initially. The Reds’ comeback was fueled by Mohamed Salah’s 200th goal for the club and an injury-time score from substitute Harvey Elliott.
Crystal Palace had taken the lead in the second half via a penalty scored by Jean-Philippe Mateta. However, the tables turned when Jordan Ayew received a red card for a second yellow card offense just moments before Salah’s equalizing strike.
Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, admitted that his team had been somewhat lucky to snatch a win. Hodgson responded to this by saying: “It’s nice to know there are still enough serious football people out there to judge games on the merit it has to be judged on.”
Hodgson expressed his frustration with how the game unfolded, particularly regarding the decision to reduce Crystal Palace to 10 men for the last 15 minutes. He argued that this was an excessively harsh outcome that did not reflect his team’s performance. He stated: “I am disillusioned with the game. This game was pretty much what the game is these days. You tell me if that’s right? You should be disillusioned too.”
The penalty awarded to Palace came after Liverpool’s Jarell Quansah fouled Mateta. The incident was reviewed by VAR almost two minutes after it happened. In another controversial moment, referee Andy Madley initially awarded Palace a penalty in the first half but then overturned it based on VAR guidance about a foul by Will Hughes on Wataru Endō during the build-up. A puzzled Hodgson questioned which referee’s decision should be trusted.
Ayew’s dismissal followed a foul on Elliott, after he had already been cautioned for preventing Virgil van Dijk from quickly taking a free-kick. Hodgson commented on Ayew’s disappointment and the team’s overall frustration at having played well but lost due to circumstances beyond their control.
Hodgson concluded: “What can I do about that? If I have to be brutal, I can’t do anything. I can praise them for their performance today. I can say you were so unlucky. I can blame the referee. I can blame lots of things.
“But the bottom line is this is a game where I thought after 75 minutes we were looking likely to win 1-0 and we’ve lost 2-1. And in a week or two’s time, I’ll be doing a press conference where you’ll be telling me we lost five out of six or six out of seven.”
Liverpool.com says: Rather than pointing the finger elsewhere, perhaps Hodgson should take a look closer to home first. The amount of controversy Ayew’s sending-off has caused is ridiculous considering the circumstances in which he received his second yellow card.
His foul stopped Liverpool in its tracks as it looked to counter. That has always been a yellow card, and Hodgson should be questioning why his player made such a decision with his name already in the book.
Hodgson himself should have recognized the danger of leaving a player on when he’s walking a tightrope, especially with his side looking to see out a narrow advantage. If he’s looking for anyone to blame, perhaps it should be himself.
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This article was crafted with the help of AI tools, based on a piece first written by Ian Doyle for the Liverpool ECHO. You can read the original piece by clicking here. A Liverpool.com news editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to matt.addison@reachplc.com.
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