Liverpool defender Andy Robertson has hit out at referee Jon Moss for failing to brandish Watford midfielder Will Hughes a yellow card for simulation.
Jurgen Klopp’s side won the match 3-0 at Vicarage Road on Saturday, but they were made to work for the win with Mohamed Salah’s opener not coming until the 67th minute; it was fairly routine after the Egyptian scored his ninth goal of the season in all competitions, but there was still a controversial moment in the match when the sides were heavily poised at 0-0.
Should Will Hughes have been booked for diving? The incident in five key points
- With Liverpool and Watford locked in a 0-0 stalemate, Hughes burst into the Reds box before going to ground under a challenge from Robertson.
- Referee Jon Moss waved away the protests much to the dismay of Hughes and the Watford faithful.
- If Moss had deemed the challenge to be ‘simulation’, by the laws of the game, he should have booked Hughes.
- Robertson has vented his frustration towards the decision but has also praised the referee for not awarding a penalty.
- Ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright deemed there to be minimal contact and said on Match of the Day that Watford could have had a spot-kick.
The win keeps Liverpool within touching distance of Manchester City who humbled West Ham 4-0 at the London Stadium, while Chelsea lost ground after losing 3-1 to Spurs on Saturday evening.
Liverpool often found it hard to break down a resilient Watford side, and had Moss awarded the Vicarage Road club a penalty, then the outcome could very well have been a very unfavourable one for the travelling Merseysiders.
When quizzed whether he felt it was a penalty, Robertson said, according to Goal: “No, I’ve watched it back and I still don’t think I made contact with him. I think he was looking for it.
“He went down quite easily and I don’t know why the referee didn’t book him having not given the penalty. I’ve seen them given but I’ve not touched him. It would have been very harsh and I think the referee made the right call. A lot of players try to buy penalties and sometimes defenders can’t do a lot about it. But I played on and tried to get the ball straight away because in my eyes it wasn’t a penalty.
“My conscience was clear. The only thing I would say is that he probably should have booked him.”
Liverpool’s best ever defensive start to a league campaign
Liverpool remain unbeaten in 13 Premier League matches this season, winning 10 and drawing three, while they have conceded just five goals and boast a positive 21 goal difference.
In keeping another clean sheet, Jurgen Klopp’s side have. now ensured that they have made their most successful start to a league campaign from a defensive front, though Robertson was quick to play down the achievement, insisting that statistics count for nothing unless they clinch tangible silverware.
He added: “We defend as a team, but yeah that stat is special for the defence. But we need to use it and keep building on it. There’s not much point breaking records if in the end, it doesn’t mean anything.
“We haven’t achieved anything yet this season but we’re doing well. We’re keeping more clean sheets and looking solid at the back and we’re still scoring goals.
“It’s a long season and we need to keep it going. We need to keep that defensive form up because keeping clean sheets is half the battle.”
Next up for Liverpool is their potentially decisive Champions League group game against Paris Saint-Germain.
The post Andy Robertson says Will Hughes should have been booked for diving in Liverpool’s win over Watford appeared first on Squawka News.
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