From head-butting an opposition player on the side of the pitch to verbally abusing the likes of Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger, Alan Pardew has always had ‘issues’ with his temper. And after Crystal Palace’s dramatic 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, the Eagles’ boss struggled to keep his cool with Sky Sports interviewer Geoff Shreeves.
Relegation-threatened Palace looked to be heading for a share of points at Selhurt Park on Sunday against a Liverpool side down to 10 men, after James Milner saw red just after the hour-mark. However, with just seconds remaining, a rash lunge from Damien Delaney in the box left Christian Benteke sprawling and ref Andre Marriner pointing to the spot…
Was it a penalty?! RT YES, Favourite NO! #CRYLIV #LFC #Benteke pic.twitter.com/vfkcPJm8C6
— David Castle (@DavidGCastle) March 6, 2016
Benteke himself dusted himself off and converted the resulting penalty to secure a precious win for the visitors and condemn Palace to another defeat.
With ‘keeper Alex McCarthy gifting Roberto Firmino an equaliser after Joe Ledey had taken the lead for the Eagles, it turned out to be a bad day for the south Londoners, with Pards taking out his frustration on Shreeves and claiming that ref Marriner would never have given a similar penalty to Palace…
WATCH: “If it had been us, we wouldn’t have got it,” fumes @CPFC manager Alan Pardew: https://t.co/OhIOeDgGVl #SSNHQ https://t.co/1WLU4Vy0NR
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) March 6, 2016
Crystal Palace now find themselves without a win in 12 top-flight games, with (a still substantial) nine points separating them from the drop-zone. As for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, they go seventh, just three points behind Manchester United, and with a game in hand.