Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to express their frustrations with Kalidou Koulibaly’s challenge on Mohamed Salah in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw.
This flurry of criticism comes after Liverpool fan Twitter account @Kloppholic shared a post on their official page of a video clip of Koulibaly holding Salah by the neck in the Napoli penalty box.
The tweet was labelled with the caption “this is why players go down so easily in the box. There is no reward for honesty.”
This post then gathered many replies from frustrated Liverpool fans sharing their opinions on the footage.
Here’s a sample of Liverpool fans reacting to the clip:
He can’t win if he stays on his feet and he can’t win if he goes down. The guy battles week in week out and still gets flak. I have nothing but respect for him, genuinely doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
— Keith Pearce (@TheModfather) November 27, 2019
Foul anywhere else on the pitch! But if Salah had of gone down he’d of been the worst diver in the league…besides Mané
— Scott Wildman (@ScoWild1) November 27, 2019
Despite being held by the neck by Koulibaly, Salah stayed on his feet and continued playing instead of trying to win a penalty for his team, so there can be no complaints on the diving front.
Some Liverpool fans think Salah did the wrong thing by continuing to play.
Should Mohamed Salah have gone down after Koulibaly's neck pull?
Yes
No
I expect if he’d gone down, idiots would no doubt have said he dived, in spite of the fact his neck is getting wrung.
— Martin Long (@martinlong327) November 27, 2019
Ridicilous decision…bet no rival fan be crying over this one? #livarpool
— Dylan Jones (@dylslam24) November 27, 2019
Shocking
— k (@StoopidSimon) November 27, 2019
Embarassing ref
— GilgaSmash (@SmashGilga) November 27, 2019
What do we think?
Whether Salah should have gone down or not, the referee should have given a penalty straight away. It’s easy to see why some Liverpool fans are frustrated with not just the referee’s decision not to give a penalty, but also with Salah’s decision not to go down.
If Salah did go down and did not win the penalty, Liverpool fans know the Egyptian would get called a diver by other fans, so it’s a difficult one.
But at the end of the day, Klopp’s side and the fans need to move on and focus on their next game.