Liverpool get all the decisions at Anfield, right? Jürgen Klopp isn't happy with how many penalties his team get

We live in a world where any manager’s complaint is received as whinge, a rant or a quest motivated absolutely by self-interest but it is worth assessing whether Klopp’s grievances are just

It is fair to say Jurgen Klopp was not in the best of moods following Liverpool’s goalless draw with Stoke. An opportunity to more or less secure a place in next season’s Champions League had been missed for the second week in a row in failure to beat a team that is likely to be relegated. He has more injury concerns with Joe Gomez. He did not like being asked again questions about the safety of Liverpool supporters in Rome, particularly when he’d sent a forceful message only the day before.

Burrowing away in his thoughts was the injustice of a penalty that had not been given. Georginio Wijnaldum’s cross had struck the arm of Erik Pieters in the final ten minutes but neither referee Andre Marriner, nor the nearest assistant, judged in Liverpool’s favour.

Klopp had a suggestion. “Have a look at the situations where we’ve been lucky with scoring goals and you will find probably two situations around the Champions League against [Manchester] City,” he said. “Look again, look at how many penalties. Tottenham have had more penalties at Anfield than we have. We constantly have the ball, we are constantly in the box. But we don’t dive…”

Liverpool were denied late on at Anfield (AFP)

On he went, reminding that James Milner was judged to used his arm deliberately against AS Roma the previous Tuesday even though it was perhaps less blatant. It proved to be a decisive moment because the resulting penalty was converted by Diego Perotti and this gives Roma hope in the second leg.

This is a world where any manager’s complaint is received as whinge, a rant or a quest motivated absolutely by self-interest but it is worth assessing whether Klopp’s grievances are just.

Consider Mohamed Salah has scored 43 goals for Liverpool this season, consider he’s such an obvious threat, consider too defenders have been trying to figure out ways of stopping him for quite a while now, it is perhaps odd that he has not won a penalty since the opening day of the campaign at Watford.

Paul Tomkins is a Liverpool supporter. He also analyses statistics and writes about his findings on his own website. He thinks the pattern runs deeper. Since 2003, Liverpool have won only half of their penalties at Anfield. Meanwhile, every other club that has been in the Premier League in that period have won between sixty and seventy-five per-cent of their penalties at home.

The role of the Kop might be an issue. Francis Lee, the Manchester City centre forward, once said that visiting teams were lucky to get a throw-in at Anfield, “never mind a serious decision.” For decades, the power of the Kop was legendary to the extent it won Liverpool points, not just because of the backing it gave the team but the impact it had on weaker referees.

Klopp isn't happy with the officiating of his team (Liverpool FC)

Even on Saturday, Paul Lambert, the Stoke manager, referred to the Kop, “it was always going to claim…” as if claiming by the masses is like breathing - a natural and unavoidable feature of life. For decades, British managers like Lambert have repeated that Liverpool get all of the decisions at Anfield but is it really true anymore? Has the Kop’s lore and its position in football debate led to a junction where referees now show their strength by waving away penalty calls, just so they are not accused of bias?

It might be concluded that Liverpool’s curious relationship with penalties at Anfield in the last 15 years is just an anomaly. Yet Tomkins cites that in the same period, Liverpool have won more penalties when there is an increased number of British players in the side. The statistics drop when Liverpool’s attacking players are foreign.

Considering this season’s front three includes an Egyptian, Brazilian and a Senegalese, you do wonder whether it would be different if Liverpool instead had Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey. It proposes another question: has the narrative around diving being a “foreign disease” led to an assumption that English players are somehow more trustworthy?

Maybe Klopp has a point.