A joint-error from Virgil van Dijk and Alisson allowed Gabriel Martinelli to put Arsenal 2-1 ahead midway through the second half. Klopp made changes in an attempt to turn the momentum of the game in his side’s favour.
But that plan had to be torn up after Konate received a second yellow card in the 88th minute. His first booking had been for a tug on Kai Havertz, before the defender blocked the German’s run and saw red.
Klopp has previous with Taylor, who showed the Liverpool head coach a red card during a defeat against Manchester City at the start of last season. He felt the officials were inconsistent in their decision-making at the Emirates Stadium.
“A lot of things were against us today. This referee gave me a red card against Man City for [the] wrestling situation between Bernardo Silva and Mo Salah. Today, same situation with Jota but didn’t get a red card,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“It is unbelievable, then the of holding Havertz on Konate for the first yellow card.
“Then Havertz goes down and the referee gives Konate a yellow card. Gabriel does the same to Nunez and no yellow card.”
Klopp did confess that Liverpool deserved to lose, with Leandro Trossard scoring a late, game-clinching goal against the Reds’ 10 men. Liverpool managed just one shot on target and scored their goal through a fortunate Gabriel mishap.
“In general we can admit that Arsenal deserve the three points. The circumstances were a bit strange. The goal for us was similar to the cup game. In the cup game we had even bigger chances,” Klopp continued.
“We scored the goal at half-time and having nil shots on target, but a goal is a bit stranger. We had to adapt in a lot of moments today.
“We found our way into the game, we had crosses and situations where it was close and then the second half. But if you cannot keep it open, then Arsenal might become a little nervous. The red card did not help and we had to change what we tried a lot.”
