Gary O'Neil's Ipswich Town side were beaten by Liverpool on Friday night after Alexander Isak scored twice inside 10 minutes at Portman Road
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil
Ipswich Town manager Gary O'Neil (Image: (Adam Davy/PA Wire))
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Ipswich Town boss Gary O’Neil was left fuming with the way Liverpool were able to 'kill the game' with their timekeeping against his side. O’Neil’s team fell two goals down inside the first nine minutes to an Alexander Isak double at Portman Road.
Ipswich recovered to produce a spirited display, but never really looked like they were going to get anything from the game. And O’Neil was less than impressed by how referee Darren England allowed Liverpool to kill the game.
“We’ve been pushed on timewasting a lot,” the Ipswich boss fumed after the game.
“My goalkeeper is being hurried up at Old Trafford to kick the ball when we weren’t even set - and I felt they [Liverpool] were able to kill the game a lot easier here.
"That upset me a bit. They could have been hurried up a little bit more. But I thought the officials did a good job though. VAR arrived to a good conclusion for the penalty.”
O'Neil also felt his side went 'toe-to-toe' with the Reds after falling behind and were the 'best side' in the match for most of the contest.
He said: "Proud of the group. I thought we were excellent. Two mistakes in the first 10 minutes made it difficult, but we were the best side for large parts after that.
"More shots, some real good chances. And a test. I spoke about the setbacks at Man Utd and wanting to respond to them better, I thought we did that very, very well.
“Of course, we won't take any points tonight which is always difficult against Liverpool and it's what we're here for. But a lot of very good signs. To go toe-to-toe with them, I'm very pleased.
"The mistakes are big, punished heavily by world-class players in the first 10 minutes, but an excellent response. We gave our best, the fans appreciated the performance. But we are here for points, so next week we have to make sure next week we take some."
O’Neil also rallied around his goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen after he made two mistakes that led to Isak securing the Reds all three points.
He said: “I don’t know about under (the) spotlight but the way it went in, the first one you don’t expect that to go in, I guess, but he has made some good saves for us as well.
“He was decent for us in build-up and people will make mistakes. I am really clear on that with the group that mistakes are no problem.
“That is going to happen, but it is how we behave as a group and how we perform and commit to things.
“We will have to find a way to not let mistakes be the deciding factor, of course, but let’s be clear – you make mistakes against Isak, (Florian) Wirtz, (Bradley) Barcola and (Cody) Gakpo, there is a fair chance you get punished.
“To basically see 30,000 of our fans still stood there at the end on their feet applauding the players for what they have given, that tells you enough about what they think of the group.”