Speaking to Geoff Shreeves in the immediate aftermath of Liverpool's 2-1 away win against Crystal Palace, Alan Pardew revealed that he did not feel the decision to award Christian Benteke a penalty in the final minute of stoppage time was the correct one.
I think it's wrong, really.
He's looking for it, our player has pulled out of it, and if the linesman has called it for that knee touch after pulling out of it, then I think that's harsh.
He then had a bit of a go at Shreeves, which was fair and enjoyable to watch, but Jurgen Klopp was then asked for his opinion on the incident:
He made the move, he wanted to force the situation, it was a clear penalty as we could see as he would have been in a great position to shoot.
One says no, the other says yes, let's go all CSI and analyse the challenge and come up with our own view.
Frame 1: Damien Delaney makes a bad decision.
Stay on your feet Damo, otherwise you are asking for trouble. He was never winning the ball from that starting position and with Benteke in control of the ball.
Frame 2: Damien Delaney pulls out after realising his mistake.
He knows he make an error and tried to rectify it.
Frame 3: It does not look like a penalty is about to be conceded.
He nearly pulled if off too.
Frame 4: The contact. There is clear contact of knee on foot.
This is why the penalty was given. Benteke's ankle is jarred by the contact on the knee and moves inwards.
Frame 5: Evidence that Beneteke could have carried on.
You can see here that with the weight on his right leg he could have stayed on his feet.
Frame 6: Both legs go to sell the fall.
But why would he stay on his feet? Delaney made a rash challenge and caught his ankle.
Frame 7: A lot of effort goes into the appeal.
You will hear a lot about how Benteke was "playing for the penalty" because that is true. He wanted to win a penalty. He won one.
Frame 8: Eye contact with the ref.
That is not to say that Benteke dived. He played for a penalty and Delaney delivered. By the letter of the law it is a penalty.
You would hope to see more players adopt the Messi approach of taking contact and stumbling through, but Benteke is not Messi, and the contact was enough to ensure he could do nothing with the ball, so he dropped.
The verdict:
Yes. It was a pen. Benteke was looking for it, and made the most of it, but it was still a pen.
Some will no doubt disagree, and call it soft, because this incident is clearly open to interpretation so let us know whether you agree with our assessment, or point out why you don't think it should have been given.
