Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has responded to Jurgen Klopp’s claim that Manchester United have been awarded more penalties than Liverpool. The United’s coach says coaches complain about penalties to influence referees.
Recently, Jurgen Klopp expressed his anger over the two penalty appeals Liverpool made during the league match against Southampton which ended 1-0 in favor of Southampton on Monday, January 4. The coach believes that Kyle Walker-Peters fouled on Sadio Mane in the box-eighteen and Jack Stephens committed a handball but the referee decided to wave the fouls off.
After the match, the Liverpool manager stressed that if it was Manchester United that made such penalty appeals, the referee would have granted them the spot-kicks.
“I hear now that Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five-and-a-half years. I’ve no idea if that’s my fault, or how that can happen”, Klopp said. “But it’s no excuse for the performance. We cannot change it, we have to respect the decisions.”
In reaction to Klopp’s assertion, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was speaking during a pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United vs Manchester City Carabao Cup semi-final scheduled for today, January 6, at 20:45, admitted that it was a fact that Manchester United have recorded more penalties than Liverpool.
He however added that he does not count the number of penalties Liverpool has recorded, noting that he does not spend time worrying about how many times his players are fouled in the penalty box.
“That’s a fact? Probably,” said Solskjaer. “That’s probably going to be my answer, that’s a fact that we’ve got more than them. I don’t count how many penalties they’ve had, so if they want to spend time worrying about when we get fouled in the box… I don’t spend time on that…
“I can’t talk on behalf of other managers, why they say things like this,” he said. “I felt it worked last year in the semi in the FA Cup because Frank [Lampard] spoke about it and we had a nailed-on penalty that we should have had, that we didn’t get.
“So maybe it’s a way of influencing the referees. I don’t know. But I don’t worry about that. When they foul our players it’s a penalty when it’s inside the box.”
Penalties in England: What statistics say
It is a fact that Manchester United have recorded more penalties than Liverpool between 2015 until date. Since Klopp became the manager of Liverpool, the club has recorded 30 penalties. On the other hand, Manchester United have recorded 32 penalties from the 2018-2019 season until date.
Also, since Klopp was appointed Liverpool’s coach, Manchester United have recorded 41 penalties but Leicester City (45) and Manchester City (43) have recorded more spot-kicks than United.
Besides the clubs mentioned above, Crystal Palace (36 penalties) are part of the clubs that have recorded more spot-kicks than Liverpool since the German tactician was appointed as Liverpool’s coach.
