‘What saves him…’ – Dermot Gallagher explains contentious refereeing call from Liverpool win | OneFootball

Dermot Gallagher has had his say on a contentious refereeing decision from Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Ipswich on Saturday.

Referee Michael Salisbury had a largely stress-free afternoon at Anfield as the Reds cruised to victory, although one incident in the closing stages has provoked some post-match debate.

With 10 minutes of normal time remaining, Wataru Endo was clattered by Julio Enciso, who jumped into the challenge and caught our number 3 in the chest while also crashing into him at head height.

The Paraguayan could easily have been sent off for leaving the Liverpool midfielder on the deck, but Gallagher has explained why he believes a yellow card was the correct call.

Gallagher: Yellow card the right call

The former top-flight official said of the incident on Sky Sports‘ Ref Watch on Monday: “I think what saves him from a red card is that, at the end, he actually pulls his boot away.

“He knows he’s going to collide with him, he knows it’s not a wise challenge, but he does pull his boot away, so he doesn’t go through with his studs or catch him in the chest with his studs. He’s going to catch him, but he hasn’t jumped with a massive amount of force. It’s not wise, but I don’t think it’s a red card.”

Image via @RobertoRojas97 on X

Enciso can count himself lucky

While Gallagher might have a point about Enciso  belatedly trying to pull out of the studs-on-chest challenge just before the point of contact, it was still reckless by the Ipswich midfielder and could’ve hurt Endo badly.

Thankfully the 31-year-old got up and carried on with the rest of the match, but this was certainly more deserving of a red card than the one which was shown to Myles Lewis-Skelly in Arsenal’s victory over Wolves on Saturday.

Sky Sports‘ live web commentary on the day stated that the on-loan Paraguayan was ‘lucky’ not to have been sent off, a view with which ex-Premier League referee Keith Hackett agrees.

Another way to look at is that Enciso’s dangerous lunge on Endo received the same punishment as Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye making a ‘flapping wings’ gesture after scoring from the penalty spot against Brighton, which Tim Robinson interpreted as excessive celebration on the basis that it was deemed provocative given that the south coast club are nicknamed the Seagulls.

For those two incidents to receive the same sanction shows the ridiculous inconsistency in refereeing standards in the English top flight, and should give PGMOL chief Howard Webb plenty of food for thought.