Alexander Isak has spoken out about the controversial penalty incident in which he was involved during Liverpool’s defeat to Arsenal a fortnight ago.Five minutes after Kai Havertz netted the only goal of the match, the Reds’ number 9 had his shirt pulled by Jurrien Timber inside the box, but neither on-field referee Andy Madley nor Stuart Attwell on VAR deemed it to have been a foul.The transgression was unmistakably clear on replays, and the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel has since acknowledged that a spot kick should’ve been awarded.Isak responds to penalty incidentSpeaking to reporters whilst on international duty with Sweden, Isak was asked if he felt that he should’ve had a penalty.He replied (Aftonbladet, via Liverpool Echo): “Yeah, looking back I suppose it does look that way, but when you’re in the moment, you don’t always perceive exactly what’s happening.“I could feel myself being pulled a bit, but not to the extent that it appears later on. I was focused on scoring. It’s hard to try to score and then fall down at the same time. I was so locked in on the goal that I didn’t really register it.”(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)On whether he should’ve gone to ground to try and sway the referee, Isak said: “I don’t think there’s any need to embellish or go down on purpose. Sure, if I’d had a better read on the situation, I might have made sure the referee noticed it, that’s about all you can do, but I don’t believe you need to dive or exaggerate in situations like this.“Perhaps it shouldn’t even matter that much, given that we have VAR and systems in place to make the decisive calls in these kinds of moments.”Isak shouldn’t have to engineer a penaltyIsak is absolutely right in saying that a penalty should’ve been awarded, and that he shouldn’t have to act unnaturally to convince the referee to give the decision in his team’s favour.Andoni Iraola remarked after the game that a spot kick probably would’ve been given if the Liverpool striker had gone to ground, but the onus isn’t on players to sway the officials – it’s on the latter to get these big calls right, especially with recourse to VAR.It feels as though the debate about officiating in the Premier League will continue indefinitely, with no discernible sign of an improvement in standards from Pro Ref figurehead Howard Webb.It’s to Isak’s great credit that he’s given such a calm and measured verdict on the penalty incident when he and his team were so blatantly wronged. He’d have had every right to complain profusely about what happened; we’d suspect that many other players would’ve done so if they were in that situation.He certainly hasn’t let it bother him in terms of his contributions on the pitch, with the 27-year-old scoring in Liverpool’s subsequent games against Fenerbahce and Crystal Palace to take his tally for the season to eight goals in 14 matches across all competitions.That is, in fact, the best response to the injustice which was done against him Anfield two weeks ago.The post ‘Looking back…’ – Alexander Isak speaks out over penalty controversy in defeat to Arsenal appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.