Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk accepts they have been fortunate to not have Ibrahima Konate despatched off within the 2-0 Merseyside derby win over 10-man Everton.
Mohamed Salah scored twice late within the second half after Ashley Younger was dismissed for a second bookable offence simply earlier than the interval however the hosts have been lucky referee Craig Pawson didn’t deem the already-cautioned Konate’s sort out on substitute Beto to be worthy of one other yellow.
Supervisor Jurgen Klopp’s choice to instantly substitute the France worldwide to keep away from a fifth crimson card of the marketing campaign was nearly an request for forgiveness and Van Dijk believes they might have lastly had some fortune with the officiating after quite a lot of choices going towards them this season.
“Positively. He (Pawson) may have given it, he didn’t give it. Little bit of luck for us. So what can I say? Nothing else,” stated the Netherlands captain, who has suffered personally already with a crimson card at Newcastle in August.
Liverpool managed to have Alexis MacAllister’s dismissal at dwelling to Bournemouth overturned on attraction however have seen Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones despatched off within the controversial defeat at Tottenham throughout which VAR officers made an enormous error in disallowing Luis Diaz’s perfectly-good opening aim.
For a time it appeared the membership have been engaged in a working battle with Premier Sport Match Officers Ltd over the incidents in that sport, which has led to lots of questions being requested about refereeing requirements and among the choices being made usually.
Specifically the brink for yellow playing cards seems to be decrease this time period in relation to time-wasting and complaining.
Van Dijk stated the gamers have been making an attempt to keep away from permitting that to spill out onto the pitch.
Through the win over Everton there have been a few events, similar to for Younger’s second warning and throughout the anticipate VAR to overturn Pawson’s choice to not award a handball towards Michael Keane, when the Liverpool captain may very well be seen ushering his team-mates away from the official.
“I believe tackles and stuff that’s for the referees to evaluate,” stated the Dutchman.
“When there’s a choice we wished to avoid the referee and to verify we don’t get yellow playing cards for shouting or saying, ‘Ref, yellow for this’.
“That’s one thing now we have affect on and one thing we must always avoid. We did that very nicely, particularly with the circumstances.”
Ought to Ibrahima Konate have been given a second yellow card for this…? pic.twitter.com/VHP1fLgKWu
— Soccer on TNT Sports activities (@footballontnt) October 21, 2023
Whereas Younger’s dismissal made Everton’s job tougher they have been on the again foot for all the match after their solely shot heading in the right direction got here within the opening minute.
A stable defensive effort plus some poor execution within the closing third saved the sport goalless till Keane’s handball allowed Salah to attain his 2 hundredth profession league aim from the spot, including his second from a fast breakaway from Darwin Nunez deep into added time.
“It was the sport we anticipated. The crimson card modified it a little bit bit however we had our sport plan, we needed to be very affected person,” added Van Dijk.
“In these video games whenever you rating the 1-0 it modifications the entire dynamic of the sport.”
A fourth successive dwelling win maintained Liverpool’s place within the prime 4 and solely a second Premier League clear sheet was one other increase.
The Kop on the finish @Darwinn99 and @MoSalah mix to safe derby day victory pic.twitter.com/OcZVcInIOW
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 21, 2023
“Clearly we’re nonetheless firstly of the season however there are very optimistic indicators, very happy we saved a clear sheet, gained fairly comfortably, didn’t give many probabilities away,” stated Van Dijk.
“We shouldn’t panic anyhow, now we have the standard that no matter occurs within the sport, 1-0 down or within the final couple of minutes nonetheless 0-0, chasing for the winner, now we have to be calm.
“That’s an indication of a terrific staff as a result of now we have gamers that may make a distinction.”
