Tim Sherwood told Premier League Productions that Liam Cooper should have been awarded a penalty during Leeds United’s 3-0 win against Southampton on Tuesday night.
The former Aston Villa boss shared how Cooper got ‘just got volleyed’ by Southampton’s Mohammed Salisu in the 28th minute and how the unnoticed action should have resulted in Leeds being awarded a penalty.
Raphinha played a clever free-kick out to Patrick Bamford on the edge of the Saints penalty area, with the striker unmarked, he headed it across the six-yard box, the ball fell to Salisu, who tried to bring the ball down.
That’s when Cooper stretched for the loose ball, only for Salisu to kick him straight on the back of his leg.
Whilst VAR overturned Southampton’s penalty moments later, Sherwood thinks the home team should have had one of their own.
“They head it back across and Cooper gets his foot on it,” said Sherwood. “You can see the defender (Salisu) there just volleys him (kicks Cooper on the back of his leg as the Leeds man attempts to get contact on the ball).
“The ball is still in play. Cooper gets a touch first. And he just gets volleyed. We saw one at Brighton, didn’t we? I think it was Andy Robertson and Danny Welbeck. We saw one quite similar to that.
“But Cooper never appealed at all. Leeds didn’t appeal. I think Cooper feels that if the boot was on the other foot, he wouldn’t want to get pulled up for a penalty.
“But, for me, it looked like it was a foul.”
In the end, it didn’t prove to be costly because Leeds went on to demolish the struggling South Coast side in the second half.
Once again, Raphinha stole the headlines, as he scored a wicked free-kick eight minutes from time to top off Bamford’s effort and Stuart Dallas’ toe-poke.
It means that Leeds move into the top ten ahead of their mouthwatering showdown with Aston Villa on Saturday.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
