Dermot Gallagher has given his verdict on two key moments from Liverpool’s win over Brentford at Anfield on Sunday which angered the visitors.
Making his customary appearances on Ref Watch on Sky Sports News, the former Premier League official was asked for his assessment of Wataru Endo’s challenge on Christian Norgaard, for which the Bees pleaded for a potential red card, and whether the ball went out of play in the lead-up to Mo Salah’s second goal.
On the first incident, the ex-top flight referee said: “I didn’t think it was a red card at the time and I don’t think it’s a red card now. If it’s a foul, which the referee doesn’t [give], he’s low, they are both going for the ball and keen to get it. It’s not an act of serious foul play.
“The referee has got the best view, so he knows the speed he has come at, he knows the intensity of it. For me, not a red card.”
On whether Kostas Tsimikas had managed to keep the ball inside the goalline before crossing for Salah’s 200th goal in English football, Gallagher stated: “It’s definitely not out. The whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line.
“When you look at a football and you look at that line, there’s a lot of ball to go over that line before it’s out of play.”
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Gallagher was reviewing those two incidents with total impartiality, so for him to state that the officials got both calls right would indicate that Brentford weren’t hard done by in either instance.
Endo’s challenge on Norgaard was firm, and from one angle it mightn’t have looked too pretty, but it certainly didn’t enter the realms of a malicious tackle which would’ve endangered an opponent.
Paul Tierney didn’t even deem it worthy of a yellow card, so that should quell any arguments that the Liverpool midfielder was fortunate to remain on the pitch.
As for Salah’s second goal, TV replays showed that Tsimikas got to the ball in the nick of time to keep it in play, and in any instance Brentford fans ought to look at the negligence of their team’s defence in allowing the lethal Egyptian a free header, rather than pointing to any potential refereeing injustice.
The Reds were unquestionably the better team yesterday, even though the Bees had some decent chances of their own, and thankfully the officials didn’t have any major bearing on the eventual result with the calls they made.
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