Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 6y

Klopp laments linesman's call: 'Another moment where we had no luck"

LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp believes Dominic Solanke's disallowed goal in Liverpool's goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night was another example of his side not being on the receiving end of good fortune from refereeing decisions.

Liverpool were held to a draw at Anfield for the second game in a row as Alan Pardew's defensive side limited the Reds to just a handful of clear-cut chances.

Second-half substitute Solanke thought he had netted his first Liverpool goal to win the match eight minutes from time, until the referee's assistant ruled it out for handball.

"For me it's twice deflected and I'm still not sure if the hand was at the ball or not. For me, it looks like chest," Klopp told his postmatch news conference. "In the game it looked 100 percent like chest. Afterwards when I had a few replays, yeah there's an arm, but I'm not sure if it touches the ball.

"Is it a penalty in the other box? I'm not sure. It's not on purpose, for sure not.

"I think it was the assistant that made the decision. He will be happy probably if there was a hand involved.

"That's another moment where we had no luck, for sure. If he doesn't see it or was not as sure as he obviously was then it's a goal and that's it."

On the game itself, Klopp added: "It was not a game for 20 chances, but I think we had seven [or] eight. We all know the boys usually score in the moments like this.

"Obviously it was not a night for 3-0, 4-0 or 5-0. If you don't score early, that was clear. We were ready to work hard for this one moment, but it didn't happen so that's what we now have to accept. If you don't score in football, you always have to accept the result."

Meanwhile, West Brom boss Alan Pardew praised the linesman for chalking off Solanke's goal at a pivotal point in the match.

"Initially, I thought it had hit a body and gone in," Pardew told a news conference. "I wasn't even sure it was an own goal from where I was sitting.

"When I did look down the sideline, the linesman didn't move -- and that's usually a sign that something is amiss. That buoyed me.

"When I see it on the video, Ahmed [Hegazi] has got a slight touch, it's hit Solanke and he's swung his arm and it's hit his arm and gone in.

"It's still a brave call for an assistant referee to make in front of the Kop. I thank him because it was the right decision, but still a brave decision. It was perhaps a little slice of luck that we deserved."

Klopp also took issue with the lack of added time referee Paul Tierney allocated in both halves of the match to make up for the visitors' time-wasting tactics.

"A lot of things around the ref's decisions feel not good for us in the moment, to be honest," the Liverpool manager said.

"We have the ball all the time, but we had two offensive fouls before they had one foul. I don't get it really.

"But obviously we cannot change anything. I told him [the referee] after the game: 'Three minutes in a game like this where there's six changes and time-play from the first second of the opponent?'

"He said: 'Yeah, it was right.' What's my text then? I can say nothing about that. They can obviously do what they think is right in all the different moments. We have to accept it. That's our life."

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