Sunderland manager Steve Bruce was unhappy with Liverpool’s first goal in Saturday’s 2-2 draw.
Fernando Torres intercepted Michael Turner’s free-kick and laid the ball off to Dirk Kuyt to open the scoring at Anfield, but the Black Cats insist the defender was merely rolling the ball back to Simon Mignolet to take the set-piece.
Referee Stuart Attwell consulted his assistant before allowing the goal, much to the annoyance of Bruce.
He said: “If Michael Turned had taken the free-kick from where he was, it was 25 yards from the incident where the free-kick was supposed to be taken from, and I think everyone in the ground realised that too.
“To be fair to the referee, I don’t think he’s seen it, I think he had his back to it. But he put his whistle to his mouth three times. If he is in doubt then he should have given the free-kick to be taken in the right position.
“I think everybody in the ground – bar nobody – thought that Michael Turner hadn’t taken the free-kick.
“I thought now with the intervention of the fourth official, surely they have got to get it right between them all with a bit of common sense. That’s all we’re going to talk about now is this stupid goal.
“You all witnessed it, he has got it wrong. After that, the way the team performed was fantastic. It’s a shame, because we should be talking about Sunderland rather than the performance of the referee again.”