"It changed the match" - Southampton boss Ivan Juric unhappy with penalty decision in 3-1 loss to Liverpool
Southampton boss Ivan Juric believes Liverpool’s first penalty in their Premier League game at Anfield on Saturday, March 8, should not have been awarded. The penalty allowed the Reds to go ahead in the game and eventually win it 3-1.
Liverpool welcomed a rock-bottom Southampton side to Anfield for their 29th match of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign. While the Reds totally dominated the game from the first whistle, it was the visitors who opened the scoring. A defensive error from Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker in first-half stoppage time allowed Will Smallbone to slot the ball into an empty net.
Liverpool rallied in response, and they got their equalizer six minutes after the restart via Darwin Nunez' fifth league goal of the season. Nunez won a spot kick for the hosts three minutes later, which Mohamed Salah clinically dispatched (55'). The Reds won another penalty late on, and Salah once again assumed responsibility from the spot to put the game to bed (88').
However, Ivan Juric had issues with Liverpool’s first penalty. Referee Lewis Smith awarded the penalty after Smallbone appeared to have clattered Nunez in the 18-yeard box instead of kicking the ball. For Juric, the contact was too soft to be awarded a spot kick, as he expressed his frustration over the call and argued that it changed the trajectory of the match. The Saints manager told BBC after the game:
''They reacted really well. We had really good moments of the first half. I think the [first] penalty was not a penalty and that changed the match. I am satisfied with how we played today. This cannot be a penalty ever. I’m sorry it happened because it was 1-1 and it changed the match a little bit. We have lots of young players who want to grow up and improve. We can lose but we have to fight like we fight today.''
The result meant that Liverpool extended their lead over second-placed Arsenal to 16 points, while Southampton remain rock bottom with nine points.
"I had to make some hard decisions" - Liverpool boss Arne Slot on how he inspired his players at half-time against Southhampton
Arne Slot has claimed that he made his players angry at half-time to help instigate a comeback in their Premier League match with Southampton on Saturday. The Reds were trailing 1-0 at the break but scored three goals in the second half to secure a crucial win on home soil.
Revealing what he said to his players at half-time, Slot told Sky Sports after the match:
"In the media, in my meetings, I made clear to them how difficult of a game this was and that we have to play on different intensity levels than we've played against Paris Saint-Germain. Maybe also to get used to that level of intensity that we're going to experience Tuesday again. But in the end I had to make some hard decisions, maybe at half-time, to create a certain anger with the players.’’
Liverpool will next be in action against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16 second leg at Anfield on Tuesday, March 11. They hold a slim 1-0 advantage from the first leg.