Newcastle’s new manager Mattias Jaissle called Liverpool’s 95th minute penalty during their 2-2 draw ‘really soft’ and said he did not agree with the decision.
Anthony Elanga and Joe Willock scored either side of a Cody Gakpo goal to put Newcastle in a commanding position before Lewis Hall, who had had a wonderful game, brought down Victor Munoz in the box and gave up a penalty to the Reds with mere seconds remaining in the match.
Dominik Szoboslai rattled in the spot kick and secured a point for Liverpool though he believed that his team should have won the game.
Jaissle stopped by Sky Sports following the full-time whistle and was asked for his thoughts on the penalty. He replied by saying: “I think you call it here a really soft one.
“It was a really soft one and if you give that there will so many penalties in the future. I’m not a fan of that, I have to say. I disagree but more I cannot say.”
His view wasn’t shared but the watching pundits with Gary Neville claiming that Hall knew it was a penalty on commentary. He said: “On reflection Lewis Hall will know deep inside that he knows it’s a penalty but if you said today travelling up to Newcastle that they’d be getting a point against Liverpool, it was memorable that for both sets of fans. Matthias Jaissle’s team put in a good performance there.”
Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge were also both adamant that the right decision was made.
“A penalty’s a penalty. Lewis Hall is very unlucky, but when the ball goes in there, he does catch him [Munoz],” Richards explained.
“He tries to anticipate where Munoz is going to go and he just leaves his leg in there. He’s too late, yes it’s harsh and a lot of people will say it’s not a penalty. It’s knee-on-knee, it’s a foul.
Sturridge added: “He’s shifted his body to the side and [Hall’s] got a little knock on him. As the attacker any little touch you get when you’re going at pace is going to put you off balance. A full deserved penalty if you ask me.”
When asked for his own thoughts on the penalty and what it felt like to take it inside the cauldron that it St. James’ Park, Szoboszlai was reflective.
“I was practicing a lot during the pre-season. We didn’t have any penalties during games, but in training. We need to take the positivity of the first game and move on,” he said.
“More than 50,000 fans in the stadium against you. You can’t hear your own voice. That’s why I love football and that’s why I am doing it.
“To come here is always tough. Everybody knows the [Newcastle] fans are unbelievable. They have a great team and a manager – new but he has proven himself in many other clubs. But we were prepared and we needed to be closer to each other under a new manager as well. We needed to know what was going on in the game. It’s a good thing coming back into the game after 2-1 down.
“If I am honest, we should have won. But that’s football. You don’t win easy in the Premier League – doesn’t matter who you play against. We have to be aware of that and we need to take care in the next game.”
