While there was plenty of action on the pitch during Liverpool's 4-3 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, it also got contentious on the sidelines as well. Both Ryan Mason and Jurgen Klopp had disagreements with the referee Paul Tierney and during the match. Klopp actually even suffered a leg injury during the winning goal celebration when he was running to scream at Tierney. Klopp was yellow carded for the celebration. This was a game that clearly had everything.
Klopp had plenty to say about the celebration. While he recognized that maybe the celebration was over the top, Klopp also had a lot to sat about what more may have happened between him and Tierney.
"How they can [not] give a foul on Mohamed Salah [before Spurs' third goal]?" Klopp said. "We have our history with Tierney, I really don't know what he has against us, he has said there is no problems, but that cannot be true. How he looks at me, I don't understand it. In England, nobody has to clarify these situations, it's really tricky and hard to understand. My celebration was unnecessary, which is fair, but what he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not OK."
It's been an interesting year for refereeing in the Premier League to say the least. Instant replay continues to be a mixed blessing with VAR often muddying the waters instead of clarifying things. There have been apologies given out by the Professional Game Match Officials Board for missed penalties or improper decisions that have led to dropped points, but in this instance the PGMOL has stood fully behind their man.
"PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jurgen Klopp after his side's fixture with Tottenham Hotspur. Match officials in the Premier League are recorded in all games via a communications system and having fully reviewed the audio of referee Paul Tierney from today's fixture, we can confirm he acted in a professional manner throughout including when issuing the caution to the Liverpool manager so, therefore, we strongly refute any suggestion that Tierney's actions were improper."
That puts their statement in direct conflict with Klopp's. While it's unknown if there will be a further investigation, this may not be something that goes away soon especially if Tierney oversees another Liverpool game.
