Chris Wilder’s return to Sheffield United ended without a fairytale as his team suffered a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Wilder strongly contested Liverpool’s second goal in their 2-0 victory over Sheffield United on Wednesday night. Jurgen Klopp’s side were already leading 1-0 with a controversial goal from Virgil van Dijk, Wilder argued that Darwin Nunez, who assisted Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal, had committed two offenses during the build-up.
Nunez, on a yellow card, made a strong tackle on Jayden Bogle after earlier kicking the ball away.
“I was most disappointed with the tackle by the centre-forward [Nunez] on Jayden Bogle. Twenty-five years ago when I was playing, people would talk about it and say that’s a decent tackle,” the Blades boss said in his post-game reaction.
“He’s wrapped his legs right around Jayden Bogle and it’s resulted in the second goal,” he further explained.
Even former world class referee Keith Hackett couldn’t believe Simon Hooper’s decision to not give a foul.
I am bemused that Ref Hooper and VAR Oliver judged that this was not a foul. Totally wrong in law https://t.co/pleZxeBJuR
— KEITH HACKETT (@HACKETTREF) December 7, 2023
Additionally, he was convinced that Sheffield United should have been awarded a second-half penalty for a shove on James McAtee by Ibrahima Konate. Wilder also raised doubts about the fairness of Van Dijk’s opening goal from a corner.
The Blades rightfully feel hard done by, however, they should take plenty of positives from how they performed against a Liverpool team that’s right in with a chance to win the Premier League this season.