ZeeboiWolves manager Vitor Pereira was left fuming after Ibrahima Konaté avoided a red card during Liverpool’s tense 2-1 victory at Anfield, a result that maintained the Reds’ seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Konaté, the French defender, was shown a yellow card after half an hour for pulling back Matheus Cunha during a counter-attack. Minutes later, he committed another foul on the same player, which many felt warranted a second yellow card. However, the referee chose not to issue one, much to Pereira’s frustration.
Pereira believed this moment was pivotal, especially as Wolves piled on the pressure in search of a late equalizer. Cunha had pulled one back for Wolves after Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah had given Liverpool a two-goal lead in the first half.
“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 manager was also booked for dissent and explained: “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.
“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 admitted he substituted Konaté to avoid the risk of a second yellow card. He said: “I took (Konaté) 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.”
Reflecting on the nervy finish, Slot added: “I don’t think the nerves were too much, it had to do with how Wolves came out and Wednesday we showed immense mentality in the most difficult circumstances we faced this season.
“And then going 2-1 up and playing the last 10, 15 minutes with the way we played with all the things that happened in those 15, 20 minutes and to come out with a draw was very, very hard to take.
“That’s why these wins are probably even more important than when you out-play Tottenham like we did here two weeks ago for 4-0. It is so difficult to win a game of football – people always feel like ‘Ah, you have got Mo Salah, what are you talking about, he will always score a goal’.
“No, it is so difficult to win a game of football every three days after everything you go through in a season which is why this win is an important one going into a tough week where we hope we can show the same mentality against both teams but play better on the ball.”
You can watch Pereira’s comments on Konate via @caughtoffside on X:
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