Gerrard takes aim at Salah after defeat on Anfield return

The Liverpool legend felt two crucial penalty decisions went against his Aston Villa side at Anfield.

Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard rued two penalty decisions from his side’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, with one of them involving Mohamed Salah.

Gerrard felt the referee, Stuart Attwell, gave away a ‘soft’ penalty when Tyrone Mings bundled Salah to the ground. The Egyptian promptly scored from the spot, sealing Liverpool a 1-0 win.

But Gerrard also felt Villa had a fair case for a penalty of their own when Danny Ings went down under a challenge from Reds keeper Alison Becker.

I don’t really want to get into whether it is a penalty or not but these situations are winner takes all.

If Mings is the quicker of the 2 then he puts his leg across Salah.

Unfortunately Salah is quicker and he puts his leg across the Villa CB. pic.twitter.com/yCmD7QagJ0

— Football Insights (@Fball_Insights_) December 11, 2021

“Penalty box to penalty box Liverpool were better than us,” Gerrard conceded on BBC’s Match of the Day.

“But ultimately the game has been decided by a penalty. There were two penalty incidents in the game, Liverpool got theirs – and if you look at it, Salah fouls Tyrone Mings first.”

He added: “I thought we had a decent shout for a penalty, there was certainly contact from Alisson on Danny Ings and if you follow it there is a two-hand shove on Ollie Watkins.

“We thought that deserved the referee and VAR taking another look but it looked like they wanted to move on quickly.

“Ultimately, we have lost the game in the other box which we felt was a foul on Tyrone. It feels harsh.”

Gerrard has now recorded three wins and two defeats in his opening five games in charge of Villa.