Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp sympathised with counterpart David Moyes after West Ham were denied a late penalty in their narrow defeat against his side.
A number of Hammers players appealed vocally when the ball struck Thiago’s arm inside the Liverpool box. However, neither on-pitch referee Chris Kavanagh nor the VAR official deemed the offence worthy of a penalty kick.
Moyes demanded an apology after his team was denied an opportunity to deliver a late equaliser which could have bolstered their fight against the drop. Klopp was also asked about the incident, and could understand his opposite number’s frustrations.
“I thought he just fell on the ball but I can understand Moyesy sees that probably completely different,” Klopp said. The former Borussia Dortmund boss also said he hadn’t watched back footage of Jarrod Bowen’s disallowed goal for the hosts - ruled out for offside following a VAR check - but felt his team deserved the points.
“[We] controlled the game from the beginning pretty much, made one mistake and bam – 1-0 down,” he said. “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,” Klopp added in his post-match comments. “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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Lucas Paqueta put West Ham in front early on as the Hammers looked to extend their unbeaten run to four games. The lead was short-lived, though, with Cody Gakpo firing home an equaliser from outside the box.
After Bowen’s goal was disallowed, the visitors got their noses in front for the first time when Joel Matip powered home a header from a corner. West Ham couldn’t find an equaliser, ensuring Klopp’s men made it three wins on the spin.
The result lifted Liverpool over Tottenham, who they face on Sunday, while keeping alive their slim hopes of a top four finish. Manchester United sit six points ahead but have two games in hand, one of which comes against Spurs on Thursday night.
West Ham, meanwhile, are not out of the woods in the fight against relegation. They sit five points above the dotted line thanks to 18th-place Leicester only taking a point against Leeds on Tuesday, but Everton in 19th can close the gap with a result against Newcastle on Thursday.
"The hardest thing to take is the disrespect from VAR,” Moyes said. “Somebody on VAR didn’t have enough football knowledge to understand that this could be close.
"The disrespect is to this football club. VAR should have said: ‘Check this out’. VAR for me showed no respect to us. I think they should apologise to the football club. We need to win points to be a Premier League team."
