An entertaining 2-2 tie between Liverpool and Brighton ended a game that could have gone either way.
Despite once again giving up the first goal, Mohamed Salah’s rapid double gave Jurgen Klopp’s team the lead at the break.
Lewis Dunk’s equalizer for Brighton late in the second half, however, exposed Liverpool’s weakness at set pieces, which ultimately cost them the game.
When Brighton’s Pascal Gross interfered with Dominik Szoboszlai in the box, Liverpool was awarded a penalty. Gross made no attempt to play the ball, which raised the intriguing question of why the referee did not issue him any sort of booking.
The offender is cautioned if the offense was an attempt to play the ball or a challenge for the ball, in accordance with the guidance on the denial of clear goalscoring opportunities, if a player commits an offense against an opponent in their own penalty area that prevents an obvious goalscoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick. The guilty player shall be dismissed in all other situations, including holding, tugging, shoving, or when it is impossible to play the ball.
Gross clearly seemed to have broken the guidelines listed above, but reports from the Liverpool Echo seem to indicate differently. Szoboszlai would have needed to take possession for the opportunity to be deemed a clear goalscoring opportunity, according to the Amex Stadium officials, who appeared to assume that he was not heading toward the goal.
Klopp on Dominik Szoboszlai foul: "I saw it was a penalty and didn't think about red, but I heard now it is about goalscoring opportunity. If it is a goalscoring opportunity, we can ask the question here: what do you think, was it a goalscoring opportunity? Hands up. I didn't see… pic.twitter.com/6r2cv64fXb
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) October 8, 2023
