Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe believes Trent Alexander-Arnold should have been sent off in the first half of Liverpool’s win at St James Park.
The Reds completed a dramatic comeback after Darwin Nunez scored a brace off the bench, with the winner coming late in injury time. Anthony Gordon had given the Magpies the lead in the 25th minute.
Liverpool‘s right-back avoided a red card following a cynical foul on Gordon. The right-back was already on a booking for throwing the ball away not long before the incident, but referee John Brooks decided against showing a second yellow.
Virgil van Dijk, though, was given his marching orders in the 28th minute for denying Alexander Isak a goalscoring opportunity. Howe felt Alexander-Arnold should gone for an early shower as well.
“You don’t want to see players get sent off but I thought the ref got that one wrong,” the Newcastle boss told Sky Sports. “Two key moments, that and the Van Dijk red card, and the first one was wrong.
“We are not looking at that as being the reason why we didn’t win the game, let’s be clear that falls on our laps. But that moment was particularly frustrating for us.”
Howe will now have to pick up his players after losing a second consecutive game in the Premier League. The result leaves them 13th in the table on three points after three games.
“There will be a lot of emotion,” he said. “For us we’ve had three really tough opening games, won one and lost two. The two we lost were lost by the narrowest of margins, and they were against the best two teams in the Premier League.”
Read – Carragher slams major Liverpool decisions as Van Dijk sees red
