Jurgen Klopp demands talks over controversial Alexis Mac Allister red card against Bournemouth
- Mac Allister was sent off on his Anfield debut
- New signing was shown a straight red for a perceived high challenge early in the second half
- Referee Thomas Bramall was not asked to review the decision by VAR
By Tom Gott
Jurgen Klopp has insisted conversations must be had over the controversial decision to dismiss Alexis Mac Allister in Liverpool's 3-1 over Bournemouth on Saturday.
Mac Allister, who was making his first competitive appearance at Anfield since a summer switch from Brighton & Hove Albion, was shown a straight red card shortly before the hour mark following a late tackle on Ryan Christie.
While replays showed clear contact between the two, the decision to dismiss Mac Allister seemed incredibly harsh and Liverpool were left stunned when referee Thomas Bramall was not instructed to review the decision by VAR Paul Tierney.
After the game, Klopp admitted to Sky Sports that he understood why the initial call was made but could not comprehend how it was not overruled.
"I saw the red card back and for sure we have to talk about it," he said. "I understand 100% how it looks for a ref in that moment but when you see it back it is the inside of the foot and no power behind it.
"It is not ruthless, it just mis-hit the ball and then hit slightly the shin of the other player. We saw harsher challenges which were not a red card and this shouldn't have been. I don't know exactly what we have to do, but we should talk about it again."
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The incident marred an otherwise impressive outing for Liverpool, who started slow and conceded early on - Antoine Semenyo's third-minute strike followed another which had been ruled out - but quickly wrestled control of the game and struck three unanswered goals to seal the points.
"Horrible start. Horrible start to the game," Klopp reflected. "I thought the first goal we conceded was offside and a wake-up call. OK, you take that.
"And then a minute later we conceded a regular goal which is not cool. We needed a few minutes to shake it off and then we were really good. We scored two goals which was really good.
"The second half, it changed completely because all of a sudden we were ten men but scored the third goal, which is very important in this moment. It gave us energy. It is second match day and tough. It was surprisingly hot today so it was really intense for the boys but we fought through that and didn't concede any more, got the three points and that is all that I need."
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