Chris Wilder upset with officials as Liverpool beat Blades on his return

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder believes under-fire referee Simon Hooper had “another poor night” in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Hooper was in the spotlight after his decision to stop play when Jack Grealish was through on goal during the dying moments of Manchester City’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham on Sunday.

He was in action again as Wilder’s Bramall Lane homecoming was ruined by goals from Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai.

But Wilder felt Hooper should have awarded his side a second-half penalty when James McAtee appeared to be barged over and also thought there was a foul in the build-up to Szoboszlai’s late second.

“I think it’s another poor night by the referee, if I’m honest,” Wilder said. “It’s not rose-tinted glasses, that’s what I’ve seen.

“The two-handed push on James McAtee? In any part of the pitch, if a centre-half pushes a centre-forward or a midfield player pushes a midfield player, with two hands and he goes down, off balance… it’s not up to him to stay on his feet.

“He’s pushed him in the box with two hands. It’s a penalty. Simple as that.

“I was more disappointed with the tackle by the centre-forward on Jayden Bogle (for the second goal). Twenty five years ago if I was playing people would say it was a decent tackle, where you take the ball and take the man.

“He’s wrapped his leg right around Jayden and it’s resulted in the second goal. I think it’s a foul.”

Liverpool’s victory came in the second of eight games in December and Van Dijk is looking forward to a busy schedule, even if it may come at a cost.

Joel Matip has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a ruptured ACL, while Alexis Mac Allister suffered a gash on his knee at Bramall Lane.

The Dutch defender told the club’s official website: “Listen, we are in December and there are so many games to come.

“Unfortunately, the other day we lost Joel Matip and we are all devastated by that.

“That’s a sign as well; we have so many injuries going around in world football, it’s something we have to look at as well.

“For us now, it’s a good start to December and we have plenty of big games to come and we should all look forward to it.

“I’m definitely looking forward to each and every one of them. We need the whole squad. To see what we have at the moment, and hopefully players coming back will definitely help in contributing hopefully to success.”