- Vitor Pereira has insisted Ibrahima Konate should have been sent off on Sunday
- Arne Slot has admitted the risk of a second yellow card forced his substitution
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Will Liverpool recover from Everton blow in season-defining week?
The reason why Ibrahima Konate avoided a sending off during Liverpool’s win over Wolves has now been revealed.
Arne Slot’s side moved seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table after a 2-1 victory at Anfield, thanks to goals from Luiz Diaz and Mohammed Salah.
However, things could have turned out far differently for the Reds after defender Konate came close to being dismissed for a challenge on Wolves’ Matheus Cunha.
The Liverpool defender, who had already been shown a yellow card earlier in the match, appeared to shoulder barge Cunha after the striker beat him to a header.
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira was left furious with the decision and argued, post-match, that Konate should have been sent off.
However, according to The Times, a directive given to referees at the start of the 2024-25 campaign likely saved the defender from being dismissed.
Ibrahima Konate avoided a sending off despite a clumsy challenge on Wolves’ Matheus Cunha
The Liverpool defender went flying into Cunha, after the Brazilian beat him to a header
The outlet claim that Premier League referees were encouraged to raise the threshold for physical contact that should be considered a foul.
The instructions were initially given to officials last summer however they were reinforced again at the beginning of January.
It’s claimed that the directive would help the game ‘flow better without interruption’ and would allow fans to become ‘more engaged with the drama of the game’.
It’s reported that this change was made in a bid to reflect the physical nature that has typically been expected from English football.
Wolves boss Pereira thought it was a pivotal moment in the match, especially given his team piled on the pressure in search of a late equaliser. Cunha reduced Wolves’ deficit to one after Diaz and Salah had put Liverpool two goals up.
‘I am not the referee but yes for me,’ said Pereira. ‘What I say now will not change anything but in my opinion the second yellow card should be shown.’
The Portuguese was also booked for descent and he said: ‘I don’t know (why I was carded), maybe because I am emotional when I am competing, I am not watching a movie on the sofa. I am there to compete, we must understand the emotional side of the game.
The Liverpool defender was already booked after a previous tackle against the Brazilian
Vitor Pereira insisted Ibrahima Konate should have been given a second yellow card
‘It was not disrespectful in my opinion, I must have said but I am trying to accept a lot of decisions today. We must play the first half as we played the second half, this is what I want to see in my team – the personality, courage and identity. Wolves woke up at half time.’
Liverpool boss Arne Slot added: ‘I took (Konate) off because of that. I saw him getting his first yellow – that for me was a soft yellow. If he had gotten his second one for a shoulder push, that would have again been a soft yellow so he would have been sent off for two soft yellows.
‘I think the referee felt the same, that’s why he didn’t (book him again). But I’ve watched football so many times in my life and I know that a player and the referee is then under pressure. So every next foul will lead again to maybe a referee that thinks maybe he should give it.
‘So I had to take him off because you can’t play football knowing in your head you can’t make a foul against such good players as Wolves have.’
