Fulham manager Marco Silva produced a strange response to being asked about red card decisions against Liverpool, fuming at a reporter in the process.
The Reds had every right to feel aggrieved at some of the calls that went against them on Saturday, not least a dreadful tackle from Andreas Pereira on Ryan Gravenberch.
The Fulham midfielder raked the Achilles of the Dutchman but only received a yellow card, prior to then opening the scoring for the visitors.
The performance of referee Tony Harrington and VAR left a lot to be desired, with the home crowd fuming at various decisions, feeling that Fulham got the rub of the green.
“If you’re asking me about 50/50 moments we are going to be here all afternoon talking, and not about the game” ?
Marco Silva was NOT happy when asked if Issa Diop or Andreas Pereira should have been given red cards ? pic.twitter.com/702KQNEcIb
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 14, 2024
Despite this, a very defensive Silva bizarrely reacted in spiky fashion when a reporter asked him if he felt his side benefited from decisions.
“You think? Yeah?!” said Silva.
“And the fouls from Liverpool, they are not close to red cards, no?
“I didn’t see these moments, but you have all of them. If I go inside, I can probably give you some more 50/50 decisions from the referee, but you have two [tackles from Diop and Pereira].
“If you go through the whole game, you are going to see 50/50s against them, for sure.
“I want to talk about the game, but if you are asking me about two 50/50 moments, we are going to be here all afternoon.
“It’s better to talk about the game. It’s tough to play at Anfield and I think our guys did really well.”
All managers are biased and will naturally stick up for their own team, but Silva’s reaction was still strange.
While rival supporters naturally like to think Liverpool constantly benefit from refereeing decisions at Anfield, the more it appears as though officials turn up looking to do the opposite.
Pereira’s aforementioned tackle on Gravenberch was somehow not upgraded to a red card after a VAR check, and other bad calls went against the Reds, including a clear foul on Joe Gomez inside the box.
Quite what Silva feels he has to be angry about remains to be seen, but he should feel that his team were fortunate to have 11 men on the pitch throughout.
