Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted he is looking forward to an explanation as to why Martin Odegaard was not punished for an obvious handball in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Midway through the first half, Odegaard slipped in the box while trying to defend Mohamed Salah and clearly struck the ball with his arm, scooping possession away from the Egyptian and heading forward with the ball.
On-field referee Chris Kavanagh did not make any decision at the time and instead waited for a VAR check which ended without any objection from those watching the monitors. Kavanagh was not asked to review the decision.
“Yes I have seen it,” Klopp told Sky Sports after the game. “I am pretty sure someone will come to explain it to me why it was not a handball but I don’t know how?
“I don’t say that the ref can see it because I don’t know where he was in that moment. But how can a guy in an office see that and not come to the conclusion that maybe, possibly it could be worth the referee having another look?”
Klopp described the game as a whole as a “positive reality check” for his side as it proved Liverpool can hang with the best teams in the Premier League.
“They are a really good side, and we tried to keep it tight but in one moment if you give space they are there to take advantage,” he said of Arsenal. “Still it ends 1-1 and a point against a good side.
“They have quality and you cannot defend that all the time. When we got more momentum we knew we could not play like that for 90+ minutes, so we had to switch it up a bit.
“I’m not sure if you can use ‘reality check’ in a positive way, but if you are not sure where we belong in the table that result shows that up there is where we belong. Now we have to go forward from here.”
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