A penny for Alexis Mac Allister’s thoughts had he been watching Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Monday night.
With the 10-man Gunners holding on to their slender lead in the closing seconds, both Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard could be seen reaching for the imaginary yellow card as they urged referee David Coote to dish out a caution for what they viewed as some last-gasp simulation from the home side at Selhurst Park.
Both Arsenal players, predictably, evaded sanction barely a week after Mac Allister was carded for the exact same motion at Chelsea following a crude upending from Conor Gallagher.
The new guidelines to yellow-card players demanding their opponents have their name taken appear to have lasted just a few days on the evidence of Monday evening and Mac Allister could be forgiven for thinking the officials have made him a marked man in the early days of his Liverpool tenure.
Six days after receiving his carding at Stamford Bridge, the Reds’ new No.10 was controversially sent off midway through the second half of Saturday’s 3-1 win against Bournemouth at Anfield.
If the Argentina international’s sending-off – which was Liverpool’s first since Darwin Nunez was punished for aiming a head in the direction of Palace’s Joachim Andersen 12 months ago – was a curious decision, his dubious honour of most-questionable red card of the campaign has already fallen by the wayside after Arsenal’s Takehiro Tamiyasu was given his marching orders for two of the softest cautions you’re ever likely to see on Monday evening.
That, though, will be no solace to Mac Allister even if it does further illustrate the picture of refereeing ineptitude at present, which is a topic that rarely veers from the general footballing discourse, as tiresome as it can sometimes feel.
“I am baffled by that call,””It is not a red card, there is no malice in it at all. Mac Allister went for the ball and slightly mistimed it. The Bournemouth player did Mac Allister no favours by going down in the way he did, too. Aside from this decision, I actually thought the referee (Thomas Bramall) had a decent game.”
The decision, which Liverpool confirmed on Monday they would be appealing, is the latest in a string of incidents over the last six months that have left many of a Reds’ faith scratching their head.
It began with the elbow from assistant referee Constatine Hatzidakis to Andy Robertson at the midway point of April’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Anfield. The linesman was later dropped from the following weekend’s fixture as a result of the flashpoint.
It led to a formal apology from Hatzidakis to Robertson, via Zoom, after discussions with referees’ chief Howard Webb. The Liverpool defender accepted the gesture without hesitation and put the incident behind him, despite the furore it initially caused.
A few weeks later, Liverpool were embroiled in another storm after Jurgen Klopp celebrated in the face of fourth official John Brooks when Diogo Jota had slammed home a dramatic late winner in the 4-3 victory over Tottenham.
Klopp pulled a hamstring during the gesture and was then given a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney for his unseemly actions. The Reds boss later revealed his initial frustration was due to Tierney giving a foul against Mohamed Salah on Ben Davies in the build-up to Spurs’ equaliser to make it 3-3.
“We have our history with Tierney,” Klopp said. “I really don’t know what this man has against us, he has said there is no problems but that cannot be true. My celebration towards the fourth official, I didn’t say any bad words or nothing unnecessary, which is fair. I got my punishment by pulling my hamstring. But what he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not okay.
“How he looks at me, I don’t understand it. But again? He was reffing against Tottenham (in December 2021) where Harry Kane should have got a red card. And I love this player, crazy player and I don’t want him to get a red card, but he should.”
Klopp was subsequently charged with improper conduct and while Tierney is yet to take direct charge of a Liverpool game since, he was on VAR duty on Saturday and apparently saw no reason to second guess the call to dismiss Mac Allister.
Liverpool don’t believe their appeal will be viewed as a frivolous one and the decision to ask for an intervention from the Football Association, who will now review the evidence via an independent regulatory commission, was taken with Sunday’s trip to Newcastle United at the forefront of the thinking.
Liverpool could point to Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka catching Ibrahima Konate with a studs showing, high boot one week earlier or a tackle from Tyrone Mings that left Cody Gakpo with visible gauges in his chest during Liverpool’s draw with Aston Villa late last season.
The Reds can ill afford to be without the Argentina World Cup winner for that huge clash up in the North East, particularly at a time when Curtis Jones is struggling with an ankle complaint, Thiago Alcantara is awaiting his first involvement of the campaign and Stefan Bajcetic hasn’t played since March.
Throw in the fact that new signing Wataru Endo is still adjusting to the whirlwind week that made him a Liverpool player as well as the ongoing search for further midfield reinforcements and the absence of Mac Allister becomes an even more difficult prospect to stomach.
It’s why, despite the additions of three new midfielders in the shape of Mac Allister, Endo and the impressive Dominik Szoboszlai, further signings are needed before the September 1 transfer deadline. It’s not a case of stockpiling midfielders for the sake of things.That one potential suspension is already threatening to tug on the threadbare nature of the ranks will be a concern.
If there are midfield dilemmas to confront on the outside of the club right now, they are seemingly already piling up on the inside too. Klopp will await the appeal’s decision with baited breath.
