27 August 2023 , 15:54
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Alan Shearer and Gary Neville were quick to question why referee John Brooks failed to hand Trent Alexander-Arnold a second yellow card during Liverpool's trip to Newcastle.
The Reds right-back was handed his first yellow card within the opening five minutes at St. James' Park for tossing the ball away from Anthony Gordon. Just moments later, Alexander-Arnold was guilty of hauling down the ex-Everton as Gordon darted away while Newcastle were on the attack. The entire Magpies bench were up in arms, but the England international managed to avoid an early bath.
Newcastle legend Shearer made his feelings on the incident crystal clear on Twitter, writing: "consistency. If the first isn’t given then that’s a yellow." The message was also accompanied by three enraged emojis, to further hammer home his point.
Neville echoed a similar sentiment and conceded the right-back was fortunate to remain on the pitch. "Trent steps out to the left and puts his arm out across Gordon," he explained. "He's lucky. Would Klopp think about substituting him? It's cauldron out there. He has sent out Gomez to warm up. I'm not surprised at all. It must be a serious consideration."
Things went from bad to worse for Alexander-Arnold soon after, as he accidentally let the ball roll under his left boot which put Gordon through on goal. The Merseyside native made no mistake and slotted his effort between the legs of the onrushing Alisson.
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And yet, remarkably, there was even more bad news for Liverpool still to come. Virgil van Dijk was shown a red card for bringing down Alexander Isak as the last man. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp could barely believe what he was witnessing from the touchline.
Had Van Dijk not been sent off, perhaps Alexander-Arnold would have been withdrawn by Klopp to prevent a second yellow. However, with Liverpool now already down to 10, winger Luis Diaz was sacrificed instead, much to the Colombia international's dismay.
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The decision to not send Trent Alexander-Arnold off sparked a clash between the dugoutsThe first-half ended with Newcastle one-nil up, though it could have been even more had it not been for some wasteful finishing and a stellar stop from Allison to deny Kieran Tripper.
Klopp will need to give quite the half-time team talk if his Liverpool side are going to come away from their trip to the north-east with anything to show for themselves.