Arne Slot and Virgil van Dijk both had complaints despite Liverpool extending their excellent start to the season with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. The hosts felt they should have had a penalty when Marc Guehi was hauled down by Van Dijk – but referee Simon Hooper and VAR both said no.
Slot believed his team were worthy of a bit of luck with the officials and claims it took his side until 10 minutes into the second half to be awarded a free kick. Although he accepted that VAR might not have cancelled out a penalty had Hooper decided to point to the spot.
“That’s the thing with VAR, if the referee had given [the penalty], the VAR wouldn’t have changed it,” Slot told TNT Sports.
“This is not a penalty because he will never get the ball. In general, I don’t think Palace fans can be unhappy with the referee. It took 55 minutes for us to get our first free kick. We had 78 per cent ball possession.”
Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game to hand Slot a ninth win in 10 matches across all competitions. Liverpool will go into the October international break top of the Premier League.
Jota prodded home Cody Gakpo’s cut-back after 10 minutes and Liverpool should have been further ahead by half-time. The Portugal forward missed another great chance midway though the first half.
But Liverpool did not have it entirely easy. Eddie Nketiah had strayed offside before he converted after just 22 seconds – with the strike ruled out. Ismaila Sarr, Will Hughes and Eberechi Eze all went close to scoring for Palace.
Van Dijk felt that Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was called into action too many times. The Dutchman also feels his side are held to different expectations compared to their Premier League rivals.
He said: “We keep going and we keep working. We are never satisfied. We needed Alli [Alisson] twice, but that is what we try to avoid. Everyone is contributing to clean sheets.
“I think there is always expectations towards different teams – whatever the outside world thinks of us we don’t really care. We want to try to challenge, compete, win and be successful.”
Liverpool will be concerned that Alisson was forced off with 15 minutes remaining due to what appeared to be a hamstring injury. The Brazilian – who had made a couple of excellent saves – seemed in discomfort after making a clearance.
Caoimhin Kelleher missed the visit to Selhurst Park through illness, meaning Vitezslav Jaros was handed a Premier League debut. Liverpool will hope to have a fully fit goalkeeping department for the Premier League clash with Chelsea after the international break.
