Lesley Ugochukwu was sent off during Burnley’s defeat to Liverpool, but Peter Schmeichel feels he should have been dismissed earlier in the contest
Liverpool played against 10 men for the final 10 minutes of the contest after Lesley Ugochukwu's red card for two bookings. However, Schmeichel felt the officials should have sent off the midfielder much earlier for what he deemed to be a potentially 'career threatening' tackle on Alexis Mac Allister in the first 45 minutes of the contest.
Peter Schmeichel launches scathing attack on inconsistent VAR
Working as a pundit for Premier League Productions, five-time title winner Peter Schmeichel felt it was understandable that referee Michael Oliver misjudged the severity of Lesley Ugochukwu’s first-half tackle but insists that VAR had no excuse for not intervening.
"VAR sits there and they can see something different. Even when we look at it from VAR's view, Michael Oliver doesn't see that challenge but VAR does," he told Premier League productions.
"They should tell him that 'Michael, it is probably a little bit worse than a yellow card - go and have a look and see if you agree with that.’
"Then he can go to the screen and see if it is a little bit more or if it is not and stick with on-field decision. With VAR you have so much inconsistency, and this is what annoys me the most.
"I don't want him to be sent off but tomorrow somebody will be sent off. That is a bad tackle, really, really bad. It is a dangerous, career threatening on somebody else's ankle."
Jamie Carragher defends Michael Oliver’s yellow card decision
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher claims referee Michael Oliver made the right decision by giving Lesley Ugochukwu a yellow card - and not a red - for his late challenge on Alexis Mac Allister.
In a contrasting take to Peter Schmeichel, he says, via Sky Sports: "It's the follow through. He wins the ball but it's the follow through. I think if he's six inches higher he's gonna have a huge problem, but it's certainly a sore one for Mac Allister.
"Caught him right on the boot, or the ankle. He plays the ball and he follows through. We saw a red card yesterday, I think the West Ham game, wasn't it? Somebody was at full stretch and just couldn’t get there. Wins the ball and it's just that follow through. Yellow card's the right decision."
Arne Slot has revealed he has no concerns about the fitness of midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, heading into the match against Atletico Madrid despite subbing the Argentinian late in the contest.
“He played 90 for Argentina and was really tired after 70 so doesn’t have the right build-up to play three games a week, 90 minutes. I was always sure I would take him off after 60 minutes for him to be ready to be back on the pitch on Wednesday and Saturday and I already made one substitution in the first half.
“If I take him off on 60 minutes then I would have to make another one, then if I want to make changes on 75 I can do nothing anymore. That, combined with the tackle that was a tackle that he felt. I’m not surprised by the fact he felt that tackle, by the way.
“It was a combination of both. He said it was fine and good enough to go on although he limped a lot. That’s more his mentality that he could actually perform at his best for 15 minutes longer.”
Liverpool finished top of the league-phase last season, becoming the first team to do so since the format change. They’ll hope to kickstart this campaign with a win over Atletico before taking on Everton in the Merseyside Derby just a week later. Liverpool won 1-0 at Anfield last season but were held to a 2-2 draw in an eventful final contest at Goodison Park.
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