Liverpool's Dominic Solanke Insists Referee 'Changed Mind' Over Disallowed Goal Against West Brom
Liverpool's Dominic Solanke thought he had scored the Reds' winning goal and his first senior goal in English football against West Brom on Wednesday night, only for it to be disallowed by referee Paul Tierney.
The 20-year-old was adjudged to have bundled the ball into the back of the net using his arm in the dying stages of the clash at Anfield, but the striker insists the referee initially signalled his effort was awarded.
Solanke was left to rue the call as he insisted the ball made contact with his chest first.
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He said, via the Mirror: “It went onto my chest, I tried to chest it in and it has clipped my arm.
"The referee disallowed it, but it’s very unlucky. I thought he had given it. I was celebrating. I don’t know what changed his mind, but he did change his mind.
“I thought I’d won it. It’s not nice when you are celebrating and it gets disallowed.
“It’s always hard when a team tries to play defensively, you have to try to break them down. We had a few chances to maybe win the game, which we didn’t take. It was always going to be a difficult game and we have to learn from it.”
The England Under-20 World Cup winner as a result remains without his first goal for Liverpool since making the move to Anfield in the summer from Chelsea, but he remains desperate to make the most of his chances and add to his 14 appearances.
He added: “It was annoying tonight, but hopefully I will get a goal soon and carry on from there.
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"I think at Liverpool, there are a lot of young players. It’s a young squad and the manager has a lot of faith in the young players, so it’s a good place to be.”
Although the fab four at Liverpool (consisting of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah) have limited Solanke's opportunities he is confident that the busy festive period will pay dividends not only for him and the club, but for the entire squad.
He said: “Being at a big club like Liverpool, you’re always going to have great players. But when you are young, you can learn from them so it’s not a bad thing.
“I’m happy here. It’s a great club, great team and we’ve been doing well. We have to keep on trying to win games.
“I think it has been a busy season with all the competitions we are in. December is probably the busiest time and there are a lot of games, games every two or three games. We know we have a good enough squad to rotate, so we have to just all play a part,” he added.
