Harry Wilson outburst and Liverpool coach's rant are dangerous throwbacks to bad old days
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With his clipboard, laptop, or whatever, Sipke Hulshoff cuts a semi-important figure on the Liverpool bench. But then again, in the modern-day Premier League, it is hard to tell - amongst the cast of thousands in what once passed for a dug-out - who does what.
It is tough to distinguish your assistant video analyst from your back-up goalkeeping coach. It is hard to separate Tom, Dick and Harry. They are all down there. Amusingly, Aston Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee enters the technical area when Unai Emery’s team has either an attacking or a defensive dead-ball situation. At Anfield earlier this season, he watched as the home side turned almost every Villa corner into a chance for themselves.
Hulshoff is clearly a trusted, long-standing lieutenant of Slot’s and his rightful place is alongside the Liverpool manager. But his place is not in the face of the fourth official. During Liverpool’s defeat in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, Hulshoff was booked for his ranting and raving. Never mind that referee Stuart Atwell clearly made an error when failing to show Lucas Bergvall a second yellow card moments before the immensely talented Swedish teenager scored a late winner, what right does Hulshoff have to go finger-pointing at Tim Robinson, the fourth official? Robinson’s response should have been: “And who, exactly, are you?”.
The culture of dissent in the vast areas that accommodate backroom staff is now ingrained in the Premier League. The caution at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was not Hulshoff’s first this season - he was shown a yellow card at Molineux back in September.
