Brendan Rodgers thankful for controversial goal against Bournemouth

Christian Benteke scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool on Monday to give his new team a 1-0 win over promoted Bournemouth in a game that was marked by two disputed refereeing decisions.

However, the strike should not have been given as Benteke’s team-mate Philippe Coutinho was in an offside position and attempted to play the ball before it reached the Belgian.

Twitter was left bemused last night when officials failed to enforce a new interpretation of the offside rule which should have chalked off Christian Benteke’s goal. The problem is tonight if that’s not offside then that’s the clearest example you’ll see of the new rule for me. Referees’ chief Mike Riley says the global Football Association Board (IFAB), the sport’s law making body, introduced a change meaning anybody in an offside position making a play for the ball, being close to the ball or having an impact on an opponent would be deemed offside – even if they did not make contact.

“It’s a yard and a bit offside and he (Coutinho) has clearly impacted on the goalkeeper”.

“I haven’t seen either of them again. I think these are two critical results”. “It’s hugely frustrating after the goal [Elphick’s header] was disallowed as well”.

“They c**k about with the offside rule every year and they don’t make it any better”, he said.

“I have made a call, I’m expecting a call back“.

That decision compounded Bournemouth’s frustration after Tommy Elphick was penalised for a foul on Dejan Lovren in the process of heading home from a corner in the fifth minute.

Brendan Rodgers’s side are yet to concede a goal this term and Clyne has revealed that their defensive solidity has been achieved after a lot of hard work.

“It’s very disappointing. It’s basically a two-goal swing against us”.

“We felt we were on the wrong end of not just the two big decisions in the game but there were several other little things that went against us”. “I don’t think that is a tough one“. What we’re seeing is a character and spirit in the team and that’s going to be important for us.

Referee Craig Pawson and assistant Harry Lennard will not be stood down from duty this weekend despite allowing an offside goal to decide Liverpool’s victory over Bournemouth.