Jurgen Klopp had his say on West Ham United’s late penalty call against Liverpool after David Moyes accused VAR of “disrespect” in the 2-1 defeat.
The Hammers took the lead against Klopp’s Reds thanks to an early strike from Lucas Paqueta but Cody Gakpo brought the visitors back on level terms just minutes later. Joel Matip headed in the winner midway through the second-half.
Moyes was left furious by referee Chris Kavanagh’s decision to not award his side a penalty for Thiago’s handball inside the box late on, adding that he felt West Ham were “disrespected” by VAR for not calling the official over to the monitor to take another look.
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Speaking about the late penalty shout, Klopp said: “I thought [Thiago] just fell on the ball but I can understand that Moyesy sees it probably completely different.”
Overall, Klopp believes his side deserved to claim all three points from the Premier League clash at the London Stadium. Liverpool dominated possession (73%) and had 20 shots compared to the Hammers' seven, although only four of the Reds' efforts were on target.
West Ham had chances in the first-half amid Liverpool’s dominance, with Michail Antonio inches away from getting ahead of Virgil van Dijk to poke in Said Benrahma’s low cross before steering a header wide from the resulting corner.
Jarrod Bowen put the ball in the back in the second-half but West Ham’s restored lead was taken away after VAR chalked the goal off for offside before Matip scored the winner.
While Klopp praised Liverpool’s performance, the German shared his verdict on Lucas Paqueta’s opener six minutes in, a 20-yard strike that fizzed past Alisson in the Reds goal.
“[We] controlled the game from the beginning pretty much, made one mistake and bam – 1-0 down. Great goal, I have to say – what a screamer – but [we] stayed calm, kept playing, scored our screamer as well and controlled the game.
“In the end, if you look at the game, I think we are the deserved winner and that's, for me, very important. If we got a point, I'm still happy with the game, not with the result – [but] now I'm happy with both.”
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