‘Right decision’ – Sky Sports duo agree over potential penalty incident in Liverpool draw | OneFootball

Liverpool endured another night of frustration at Anfield on Wednesday as they failed to win for the third home match in a row.

Having been dealt three-goal thrashings by Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven over the past fortnight, at least the Reds came away with a share of the spoils against a high-flying Sunderland side on this occasion, but it felt much more like two points dropped than one gained.

Florian Wirtz cut a subdued figure at the full-time whistle, as did several of his teammates, with the result doing little to relieve the pressure on Arne Slot after overseeing a run of just four wins from the last 14 games in all competitions.

Sky pundits review potential penalty decision against Liverpool

Liverpool’s plight may have been even worse as, during the second half, the away side were claiming for a penalty after a coming together between Dominik Szoboszlai and Dan Ballard in the box, with those protestations falling on deaf ears.

Ex-Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher felt that no foul had been committed, saying on Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch: “What happens is Ballard is not going to get the ball. He feels a touch on his back and just goes down..It is a full-contact game, and making contact with a player isn’t necessarily a foul.”

Jay Bothroyd agreed with his colleague in studio as he declared: “I know exactly what he’s done there. He realises he’s ahead of Szoboszlai, and then when he’s ahead of him, he kind of backs in, which means he’s trying to initiate contact from Szoboszlai.

“It’s not a case of Ballard was standing and Szoboszlai pushes him. They are both moving into that area. Ballard realises he’s in front, then he stops. He plants his legs and Szoboszlai runs into the back of him, but it’s the right decision. It wasn’t a penalty.”

Image via Sky Sports

It was the right decision, but doubts remain for Liverpool

There was slight contact from Szoboszlai on Ballard’s back as the ball came into the penalty area from a long throw-in, but not enough for a spot kick to be awarded, and Stuart Attwell made the right call.

As Gallagher and Bothroyd outlined, the Sunderland defender anticipated the coming together and adjusted his body accordingly, with the Hungarian having nowhere else to go, and it appears to be an open-and-shut case.

What’s far less clear is the composition of the Liverpool starting XI for their match against Leeds on Saturday, with last night’s performance seeming to throw up plenty of legitimate debates in that regard.

For instance, Adebayo Akinfenwa fought Federico Chiesa’s corner after the Italian’s goal-preventing block from Wilson Isidor to preserve a point in added time, while Alexander Isak could viably lose out to Hugo Ekitike after a display that Steve Nicol described as ‘invisible‘.

The Reds have had a couple of false dawns after wins in recent weeks. From the weekend onwards, they need to get back to putting together the kind of run they enjoyed at the beginning of the campaign, with those seven straight victories in August and September now feeling as though they belonged to last season rather than this one.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Sunderland press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: