‘You have to…’ – Dermot Gallagher insists referee got big call right in Liverpool’s win v Saints | OneFootball

Dermot Gallagher has agreed with one significant decision from Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Southampton on Saturday.

Just a couple of minutes after equalising for the Reds early in the second half, Darwin Nunez was fouled in the penalty area by Will Smallbone, with Lewis Smith pointing to the spot and Mo Salah duly doing the needful from 12 yards.

Despite vehement protests from the Saints players, the former top-flight referee insists that the young official made the right call at Anfield.

Gallagher agrees with penalty decision

Gallagher was reviewing various incidents from the weekend’s Premier League action on Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch segment on Monday, including the first of two penalties that Liverpool were awarded against Southampton.

He said of Smallbone’s foul on Nunez: “I think it’s a penalty. When you make a challenge like that, you have to get the ball and he doesn’t. It’s clumsy. He catches the man.”

Image via Sky Sports Premier League

It looked like a clear penalty on Nunez

We fully agree with Gallagher’s verdict on that incident – replays showed that Smallbone clearly made contact with Nunez from behind and got nowhere near the ball, so it seems a clear penalty to us.

The Southampton midfielder took a chance on trying to impede the Uruguayan but his challenge was indeed clumsy, and Lewis Smith had little option but to point to the spot.

It was a moment borne out of sheer frustration for the Saints’ goalscorer not long after they’ve been pegged back to level terms, just like (but not as reckless as) the Liverpool striker’s kick out at Kyle Walker-Peters just before half-time, an act that Stephen Warnock described as ‘cowardly‘.

Those two incidents weren’t the only talking points from the match in terms of officiating decisions, with replays of Smallbone’s first-half goal showing a possible offside as Mateus Fernandes appeared to nudge the ball forward, although nothing could excuse the calamitous mix-up between Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk.

Both teams may query various refereeing incidents from Saturday’s match, but thankfully a half-time dressing down from Arne Slot had the desired effect as the Reds further cemented their near-unassailable position at the top of the Premier League.