Last night's game between Liverpool and Newcastle United saw the result go the way that most people expected, with Jurgen Klopp's side taking all three points against the visitors at Anfield.
However, the 90 minutes did not run as smoothly as had been predicted.
Newcastle took the lead early in the game, and while Liverpool would find themselves in front before the half hour mark, the victory was not truly secured until Trent Alexander-Arnold's thunderbolt a few minutes before the final whistle.
𝐓𝐀𝐀, 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐖 😍 pic.twitter.com/DVbhMsdKEA
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 17, 2021
The game was also not without controversy.
That was especially true for Liverpool's first goal, which came after referee Mike Dean opted not to halt the play despite Isaac Hayden going to ground and holding his head.
You can watch the incident below.
𝙏𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘿𝙄𝙊𝙂𝙊 🙌@DiogoJota18 moves into double figures for the season 💪
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 17, 2021
Speaking after the game, Eddie Howe certainly was not happy with the decision to let the play go on.
I'm really disappointed with Liverpool's first goal. I need to see it again but it was clear to me that Isaac went down holding his head immediately. In my opinion, the game should have been stopped.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing... There is a lot of talk at the moment about head injuries and I felt that was a wrong decision.
It's had a huge bearing on the game. We had the lead. It feels unjust and I feel it was doubly hard on our players.
I think [the referee Mike Dean] said to me he felt Isaac had held his back. For me, he held his head. He was dazed for four or five minutes. It's a dangerous moment where we have to think about the player's safety. I don't think you want to see games decided when players are out of the game...
I think you can see with the fact he had treatment to the side of the pitch, that was where I made the comment from. You could see he was treated, then taken to the side and he still didn't look 100 per cent himself.
I've not spoken to Isaac after the game to see if there's any lasting damage from the challenge, but he didn't look in a good place. He immediately held his head, there was no acting. He was down and he couldn't continue and we paid the price for it.
However, there seems to be a blatant double standard in Howe's words above.
You could certainly argue that the referee should have stopped the play, but the Newcastle manager only highlighted his own team's mismanagement of the incident in his comments above.
Hayden would go on to play the entire 90 minutes despite his manager saying he was 'dazed for four or five minutes' and 'didn't look himself' afterwards. This suggests that Newcastle allowed the player to remain on the pitch despite suffering what was apparently an obvious head injury.
The Premier League have worked hard to combat this very issue in recent times, introducing concussion subs so that teams can properly evaluate any potential head injury suffered by one of their players.
Newcastle opted not to avail of such measures on this occasion, instead allowing Hayden to play on after a short physio check.
If Howe allowed him to continue despite being in the condition described above, it certainly does not reflect well on his as a manager.
He had every right to complain about Mike Dean not stopping the game, but he hasn't covered himself in glory here either.
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