Bryan Mbeumo wasted no time putting Manchester United ahead at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Red Devils\u2019 new signing found the net inside the opening minute, leaving Liverpool boss Arne Slot visibly frustrated on the touchline.<\/p>\n
However, there were immediate questions about why play hadn\u2019t been stopped, as Alexis Mac Allister lay injured on the pitch following an accidental elbow from teammate Virgil van Dijk during an aerial challenge with Mbeumo.<\/p>\n
Mac Allister\u2019s head injury controversy
\nGiven the Premier League\u2019s emphasis on prioritizing head injuries in the 2025\/26 campaign, many were surprised that the game continued. The Argentine midfielder remained on the ground while United pressed forward to score.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher expressed disbelief at referee Michael Oliver\u2019s decision not to halt play:
\n\u201cI think a lot of players have taken advantage of the head injury rule, but I\u2019m surprised Michael Oliver hasn\u2019t stopped it here with Mac Allister down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carragher also noted earlier that \u201cArne Slot is not happy with what happened with Mac Allister,\u201d as replays suggested the referee had a clear line of sight but still allowed play to continue without medical attention.<\/p>\n
Premier League head injury rule
\nThe league\u2019s own guidelines state that a match should be stopped immediately when a head injury is suspected, allowing medical teams to assess the affected player.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s defensive lapse punished
\nBefore kickoff, Van Dijk had warned that United\u2019s summer reinforcements could trouble Liverpool \u2014 and his words quickly proved true. Mbeumo capitalized on a defensive mix-up between Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 to score moments after the whistle.<\/p>\n
It was a poor defensive moment for Liverpool, but fans had every reason to feel aggrieved that the move leading to the goal wasn\u2019t halted when Mac Allister went down with a possible head injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bryan Mbeumo wasted no time putting Manchester United ahead at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. The Red Devils\u2019 new signing found the net inside the opening minute, leaving Liverpool boss Arne Slot visibly frustrated on the touchline. However, there were immediate questions about why play hadn\u2019t been stopped, as Alexis Mac Allister lay injured on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":52448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Alexis-Mac-Allister-Liverpool-FC-Manchester-United-Bryan-Mbeumo-768x432.jpg-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52449,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52447\/revisions\/52449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}