Mark Clattenburg delivers opinion on Cody Gakpo’s potential penalty in 3-2 Liverpool loss

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Mark Clattenburg has given his take on Cody Gakpo’s penalty appeal in Liverpool’s 3-2 loss to Brentford.Liverpool’s struggles continued, as another Premier League setback saw them drop further down the table. They now sit seventh, trailing Arsenal by seven points.Their hopes of catching up are slipping away, and while the result was fair enough on Saturday, there was still a bit of controversy.Gakpo went down under a challenge from Nathan Collins in the box, with most of Liverpool’s players and staff convinced it should have been a penalty.It was not given, though, and the game carried on with Brentford taking all three points.After the final whistle, Clattenburg weighed in on whether Liverpool had grounds to feel hard done by.Mark Clattenburg supports referee’s decision not to award Cody Gakpo penaltyPhoto by Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty ImagesGakpo has had a bit of bad luck for Liverpool this season.Three times he hit the post in the clash with Manchester United, and his play around the box against Brentford did not offer much more.He was subbed off just after the hour mark, with Federico Chiesa taking his place.Still, things might have played out differently if he had been given a penalty when it looked like there might have been contact in the box.But even though a lot of fans felt it was a clear penalty, Clattenburg thinks Simon Hooper got it right.The former Premier League referee explained on the Beyond the Back Four Podcast: “I’ve analysed this many times, Nathan Collins goes to make a challenge for the ball and his leg is already planted.“I believe what Cody Gakpo does [is that] he anticipates the contact, and while he anticipates the contact, Nathan Collins’ leg doesn’t make a second movement towards Cody Gakpo’s leg.“And, because he anticipates the contact, he jumps up, and as he jumps up, his arms go above his head, and that’s normally one of the signs that referees are looking at.”He added: “If a player naturally falls, he would automatically put his arms out to break the fall because he’s not expecting to fall.“Very rare you’ll see a situation where a player deliberately puts his hands in the air to break his fall, so therefore, this is one of the signs that referees look at if a player is anticipating contact and trying to win a penalty.“Sometimes referees don’t get the praise they should.

I think this is a very, very good decision.”Cody Gakpo will need to show more if he wants to keep his place in Liverpool’s starting XIEven though Gakpo is the only experienced left winger in the squad, that alone will not guarantee him a spot in the line-up.Chiesa came on for him against Brentford, and while Slot has preferred inverted wingers in the past, it is clear that approach is not delivering results this season.Gakpo has had plenty of chances to make an impact, but he has too often come up short when it matters.If things do not improve, he could find himself out of Slot’s regular starting plans. This would be far from what anyone expected after Diaz moved to Bayern Munich and Mohamed Salah took on more responsibility up front.READ MORE: Arne Slot plots surprise move for Palace test as Liverpool star set for first startNo one between Salah and Gakpo has managed to pick up the slack so far, and if things don’t change, Liverpool could face another disappointing campaign soon.