John Aldridge: Jurgen Klopp has no need to apologise after another refereeing mistake

The records will always confirm that Liverpool beat Everton 2-0 at Anfield, yet it was the dubious decisions of the match officials that were a major talking point once again after a below-par performance from Jurgen Klopp’s team.

Referee Craig Pawson was in the eye of the latest refereeing storm and his first big decision was a no-brainer, as he had to send off Ashley Young after his reckless challenge in the 37th minute.

For such an experienced player, Young let his team down when he crashed into Luis Diaz and gave the referee no option other than to send him off with a second yellow card.

There was no doubt the referee made the right call, and even as a Liverpool man, I have to say he should have got it out again to send off Ibrahima Konate after 66 minutes.

Konate was on a yellow card when he clipped the heels of Everton’s Beto and should have gone, too.

Now we all know Liverpool have been on the end of some refereeing howlers this season, with the red card for Alexis Mac Allister against Bournemouth followed by the nightmare that was Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal and everything that went on in the infamous Tottenham game.

This time, it was Liverpool getting the benefit of a dreadful refereeing decision, as this strange Premier League season had another game decided by refereeing decisions. Konate should have been sent off, it’s as simple as that, and Klopp confirmed that when he instantly substituted the defender before the referee realised he had made a horrible mistake.

Everton manager Sean Dyche was furious after the game, and I can understand why, because such refereeing mistake should not be made at this level of the game, but how many times have we said that this season?

Even after that dreadful decision, I didn’t see Liverpool getting the breakthrough. The home side were a long way off the pace in this game.

Klopp has made his feelings clear on these 12.30 kick-offs after international matches and they are hard to negotiate.

Players get back from all corners of the world on Wednesday and Thursday, which is terrible preparation for a massive derby game like this.

Then you have issues like Andy Robertson getting a nasty injury while he was away with Scotland and it leaves managers scrambling to put the pieces of their jigsaw back together.

Amid all that, Klopp and Liverpool had to just scramble to get over the winning line and were given a helping hand in that mission by Everton’s Michael Keane.

Liverpool were not making Everton keeper Jordan Pickford work hard enough and you could sense the Anfield faithful were losing faith until Keane handled the ball in the box 15 minutes from time.

Referee Pawson didn’t give the decision initially, but a VAR review went Liverpool’s way for once and Salah smashed home the penalty impressively.

Nerves crept in again in the closing stages as Everton pushed for an equaliser in the nine minutes of time added on.

Then a brilliant breakaway from Darwin Nunez finished with a superb finish from Salah to kill off the game.

The three points are all that matter in a derby game and Liverpool remains a red city, as I’m pretty sure it will be for a long time to come!

Yet Klopp won’t need me to tell him that Liverpool need to play a lot better than this if they are to maintain a title challenge this season.

Salah turned in his worst performance of the season so far yesterday but still came up with the match-winning moments when the chances came his way.

Alexis Mac Allister looked off the pace and Kostas Tsimikas had one of his worst games in a Liverpool jersey and had to be taken off.

In the end, the match officials helped Liverpool over the line in this game and that’s not the way you want to win any football match.

Jurgen Klopp can find positives in his bench

TWO players stood out for me in yesterday’s Merseyside derby, with the man of the match wearing a blue shirt.

I haven’t seen too much of Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, but he was fantastic at the heart of the visitors’ defence yesterday.

Trent Alexander-Arnold got some dangerous balls into the box, but Branthwaite was brilliantly positioned to deal with them and his reading of the game was fantastic.

He blocked so many Liverpool efforts on goal, and for a 21-year-old defender signed from Carlisle, he stood out as the best defender on the pitch.

The other player that caught my eye was Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, who made a huge impact when he came on for the final half an hour of the match. Elliott is a young man who was born to play for Liverpool, as he was a massive fan of the club growing up, and you can see that passion pouring out of te player when he pulls on that red shirt.

His energy and enthusiasm when he came on at the end of the game lifted a Liverpool side that struggled to get out of first gear for long periods yesterday, and having a player of Elliott’s quality on the bench could be vital this season.

Modern football is not just about a core set of 13 or 14 players in the first team, as it was in my day playing for Liverpool.

Now you need players who can change a game off the bench, with Darwin Nunez also making a big impact as he stretched tired Everton legs when he came on.

Klopp will conclude that there is massive room for improvement on yesterday’s performance, but Liverpool’s solid start to the season continues and optimism is rising for what is to come.