Stoke 1 Liverpool 0: Carragher unhappy about ‘harsh’ penalty
Reds skipper felt his side were unlucky after Jonathan Walters' penalty handed Stoke victory at the Britannia
Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher bemoaned a “harsh” penalty decision after Stoke City condemned the Reds to their first defeat of the Premier League campaign at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
Carragher’s clumsy challenge on Jonathan Walters after 21 minutes proved the decisive moment ““ referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot and Walters smashed his spot-kick past Pepe Reina.
“At the time I thought their penalty was harsh,” said Carragher. “I haven’t seen it again and will need to have a look before I make a judgement. It might have been or it might not have been.”
After Walters’ goal the visitors pressed for an immediate equaliser. Luis Suárez was twice denied by desperate defending from Stoke – the Uruguayan was had an effort saved by a lunging block from Ryan Shawcross before sharp handling from Asmir Begović left the striker frustrated just before the interval.
Liverpool improved after the break and manager Kenny Dalglish introduced Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy as the Reds searched for an equaliser.
Resilient defending from Shawcross and Matthew Upson prevented Dalglish’s side from conjuring a leveller and on the one occasion the pair were beaten, Begović produced a stunning double save from Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson.
Late on, Upson was fortunate to escape punishment after he appeared to handle Stewart Downing’s cross inside the area, but Clattenburg waved away Liverpool’s protests.
Deep into stoppage time Suárez spurned another wonderful opportunity when he dragged a shot wide of Begović’s goal.
Carragher felt Liverpool should have been awarded their own spot-kick for the incident involving Upson, and the Reds skipper said his team were unlucky not to take three points away from the Britannia Stadium.
“Going off what the lads have said, they are adamant we should have had a penalty,” said Carragher. “I was too far away to see. But we have had one go against us and a couple not go for us today, so we are a bit aggrieved.”
The 33-year-old added: “We’ll go back disappointed because we wanted to come here and get three points. We performed quite well and when you do that you normally get three points. But that’s football. That’s the Premier League.
“It was Stoke’s day today but we can be quite pleased with how we performed. Hopefully if we play like that against Spurs next week we’ll get something.”
