Crystal Palace were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Selhurst Park
Monday 20 August 2018 23:36, UK
Roy Hodgson was furious with some of the refereeing decisions made by Michael Oliver during Crystal Palace's 2-0 loss against Liverpool.
There were a number of controversial decisions made at Selhurst Park, with Oliver awarding Liverpool a penalty at the end of the first half after Mamadou Sakho brought down Mohamed Salah in the area.
Hodgson was not happy with the referee when asked about the incident, and believes his side were unlucky with some of the decisions given.
"What would people expect me to say to that decision [Sakho giving away a penalty]? He's a defender and he has to try and defend, which he did - in my opinion - well," he told Sky Sports.
"Of course, right at the end of the game, we have a penalty which is not given when Van Dijk completely clears our Max Meyer when he's trying to get a touch on the ball from a cross so we were unlucky with refereeing decisions tonight, that's for sure.
"There's no point in me trying to stand here and say anything different and the questions are ones you get all the time after these sort of games but I'm more interested in the fact we played so well over the 95 minutes.
"I considered us unlucky to have been on the wrong end of refereeing decisions, but that's my opinion. Other people can have theirs.
"Really and truly, I don't like talking about refereeing decisions. I can't change them, they obviously irritate me, they obviously anger me when it costs the team points but then I'm just like every other manager in football from Sunday league up to the Premier League."
However, one decision Hodgson did believe was correct was the sending off of Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the 75th minute, after he also tackled Salah - this time just outside the area - and received a red card.
He added: "That's OK. He catches him - I don't think he means to - I don't think he was trying to take him down but there was contact there and he's the last man so the referee made the right decision.
"We were chasing the game at that time, we got caught on the counter-attack, he was the last man and he did his very best as a defender should to rescue the situation.
"He was very close and in another game, he may have just got a toe on the ball and it would have saved us from conceding in that situation. I don't blame him at all."
