Virgil van Dijk appears to STAMP on the penalty spot just before Jarrod Bowen’s effort was saved by Alisson as Liverpool went on to narrowly beat West Ham… with Reds fans hailing the ‘s***housery’ from the Dutchman
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk appeared to stamp on the penalty spot just before Jarrod Bowen’s effort was saved by Alisson in the Reds’ 1-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s men secured their second successive victory in the Premier League and look be gaining their confidence back following a difficult season so far – but it was not straightforward against the Hammers as Darwin Nunez’s strike proved to be the only goal of the game.
And West Ham could have snatched a result from the game had Bowen not missed his effort, though some eagle-eyed fans spotted that just before he fluffed his effort, Van Dijk had appeared to put his studs into the penalty spot.
Virgil van Dijk appeared to stamp on the penalty spot before Jarrod Bowen’s miss for West Ham in their 1-0 loss at Liverpool
The Dutchman trudged towards the spot before looking to have subtly stepped on the spot and pressed in with his studs
Bowen’s spot kick was kept out by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson just moments after
After West Ham had been awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time – when Joe Gomez had felled Bowen – the Dutchman was seen trudging forwards from his own goal, and looked to have made an effort to step on the turf where Bown was about to take his kick, before walking away.
Bowen duly failed to convert and Liverpool keeper Alisson got up to palm his left footed strike away to his right.
Van Dijk – who played the full 90 minutes – was praised on social media by Liverpool fans for his alleged ‘s***housery’.
One fan wrote on Twitter: ‘Van Dijk s***housery is what this team needs.’
‘Big respect for Van Dijk scuffing up the penalty spot and Alisson for delaying it. Vintage s***housery,’ another said.
Another Liverpool fan called him a ‘legend’ – and others hit back at criticism of him by noting that Bowen had placed the ball on the edge of the spot anyway.
Liverpool fans hailed him for his ‘s***housery’ but others labelled the Dutchman ‘disgraceful’
But some supporters claimed the behaviour was ‘unsportsmanlike’ and ‘disgraceful’.
‘Van Dijk scuffing the penalty spot,’ read another post from a rival supporter. ‘That’s a straight red card. Disgusting and deserves a lengthy ban.’
One West Ham fan labelled Van Dijk’s antics as ‘gamesmanship’ but refused to blame him for the penalty miss and instead pointed the finger at Bowen.
‘As a West Ham fan I have no problem with this “gamesmanship” but the penalty was cack!’
Liverpool are now up to seventh in the table – four points off fourth-placed Chelsea – and Klopp hailed their display and said the club had a ‘very important period’ before the World Cup to try to grind out as many results as possible.
‘For sure not easy tonight but we played well enough – and in moments, really good. In the end, altogether, well enough to deserve three points.’
Jurgen Klopp hailed Liverpool’s win against West Ham but said they face a tough period ahead
‘I think the first half was a really good first half, with a bad ending for us with the penalty – but then with a good ending because Ali could save the penalty,’ Klopp added.
‘It still left a bit of a bad taste like we were lucky but first half we were not – we played an exceptional game.
‘We played really good football, we created, we scored a wonderful goal, hit the post, Lukasz Fabianski with great saves and big blocks in the decisive areas from West Ham, but we didn’t play that well in the second half, so that’s why the game opened up.
‘It is a very important, tough period for all teams so you have to grind results out and now in three days’ time the next fight (Nottingham Forest away) is waiting already.’