Not for the first time this season, West Brom’s players and management will trudge away from The Hawthorns after the final whistle having reasonable grounds for complaint after more officiating decisions and debatable VAR calls ultimately cost them a result, this time against Liverpool. While Allardyce accepted that Liverpool displayed quality in a moment of intense pressure, he couldn’t fail to be irritated by the decisions on the day which crucially went against his side.
Sam Allardyce said: “It’s hard to take after that obviously. We didn’t want a result snatched away by us – not from Liverpool – but by decisions taken today. They were decisions which caused us problems in both Liverpool goals. It should be a drop ball not a free-kick. That’s a complete blunder as far as the rules go. That’s number one. Then the goal we scored… VAR is meant to be there so that an onside player can score a goal. It’s an outrageous, ridiculous decision when you’ve got VAR. They have gone against us on two occasions and it’s the main reason why we haven’t got three points today. A number of times against the top six we were difficult to break down. Hal Robson-Kanu could have had a hat-trick with the flick-ons in behind today. We had to take a bitter pill by losing in the last second of the game. It’s a quality ball and it’s just that split moment in somebody in our camp needing to say ‘I’m going to mark him’. The bigger disappointment from me is on the two decisions. Outrageous is an understatement by the way.”
The idea of Phillips interfering with keeper Alisson as Bartley stuck Albion’s ‘second goal’ into the corner wasn’t an idea that rubbed with Allardyce.
Sam Allardyce added: “If down at Stockley Park they said that’s right then that’s nonsense. If they say the referee or the linesman disallowed that goal it’s a disgrace. There is no interference with the goalkeeper whatsoever. All those things people say they have to do to stop the goalkeeper saving it… If there was nobody there he still wouldn’t have saved it. It’s baffling! [The referee] is supposed to know the rules. He got that wrong. I can only point out to say how disappointed I am that an experienced referee can make a mistake like that. The other goal is beyond belief. It’s absolutely diabolical.”
