Wayne Rooney has delivered his verdict on two refereeing decisions during Liverpool's Premier League defeat against Manchester City
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney has dissected two Liverpool incidents (Image: Getty Images)
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Wayne Rooney believes that Liverpool were wrongly denied an equaliser during their 3-0 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday. After Erling Haaland put Pep Guardiola's side in front just before the half hour mark, the Reds thought they had levelled moments later when Virgil van Dijk headed home Mohamed Salah's corner.
However, as Van Dijk reeled off to celebrate with his Liverpool teammates, assistant referee Stuart Burt lifted up his flag and ruled that Andy Robertson was impacting Gianluigi Donnarumma's view while in an offside position. VAR had a closer look at the incident again but decided that Burt made the correct call and the goal was disallowed.
But Rooney doesn't think that Burt and VAR got it right, feeling that Liverpool should have scored and made it 1-1. "The Van Dijk goal should have stood," Rooney said. "I don't think Andy Robertson delayed Donnarumma diving. The City keeper can see the ball the whole way so I think that was the wrong decision."
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Arne Slot cut a frustrated figure in his post-match press conference and felt - like Rooney - that the incorrect call was made. "I think it is obvious and clear the wrong decision has been made," he told Sky Sports.
"He (Robertson) didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper can do. Immediately after the game someone showed me a goal the same referee allowed for City against Wolves last season."
A decision, meanwhile, that Rooney agreed with was the one that saw referee Chris Kavanagh give a penalty to City in the 13th minute. Doku went down in the box after colliding with Reds goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Kavanagh didn't initially point to the spot, but he overturned his decision after being advised to go across to the pitch-side monitor and have a look at the incident again.
Jeremy Doku was fouled by Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Jeremy Doku was fouled by Giorgi Mamardashvili(Image: SmartFrame/Manchester City FC)
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"I think giving City a penalty earlier in the half was probably the right call though," Rooney added. "There wasn’t much contact, but Doku was running at speed and small contact was enough to knock him off balance."
City added a second through Nico Gonzalez just before half-time before Doku scored a sublime third for Guardiola's side to condemn Liverpool to a seventh defeat in 10 matches across all competitions. Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Roy Keane delivered a brutal assessment of the Reds, who had just seven shots and created an expected goals (xG) of just 0.71 throughout.
"I think it is crisis time for Liverpool," he told Sky Sports. "It's okay to lose to a club like Man City - it's a tough place to come.
"But to lose seven in ten - five league losses already - It has to be a crisis for a club like Liverpool. I thought Liverpool looked like a really weak team today. The manager said he was pleased with the second half, but the game was over! It's easy to play well when you're not playing for anything.
"I thought [Slot's] assessment of the game was spot on. City looked stronger, technically better and more physical than Liverpool today. [Liverpool] still had moments, they've always got quality, but the goals they're giving away - their decision making - was not good enough.
"There was a lack of intensity, a lack of energy. The subs, when they came on, looked really soft. I think it is a crisis for Liverpool."
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