Wes Burns leaves Liverpool's Arne Slot and Diogo Jota furious over blatant sending off

Liverpool will be looking inward after a first half in which Ipswich Town was able to go toe-to-toe with Arne Slot's side. But it will also have questions for the referee, who bizarrely failed to show a red card to Wes Burns for a second bookable offense .

Slot will have been hoping for a more emphatic start to his reign, having been handed a theoretically kind opener against newly-promoted Ipswich. But the Premier League new boys perhaps unsurprisingly looked bang up for the task from the first minute.

Meanwhile, Liverpool is clearly still getting used to the new approach, especially with key players having only been back in training for a short time. Ipswich made the most of any sluggishness, forcing a good block from Jarell Quansah as well as a couple of decent saves from Alisson .

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However, the Ipswich enthusiasm did occasionally stray into overzealous territory. By the end of the first period, the Tractor Boys had picked up three yellow cards, and Liverpool will feel strongly that there should also have been a red shown.

Wes Burns was among the Ipswich players to pick up a yellow. The winger could have no complaints whatsoever with the booking, which came after he scraped his studs down the Achilles of his man as he arrived late to a tackle.

But later on in the half, he left Slot and Diogo Jota completely nonplussed when he somehow contrived to stay on the pitch. Going to ground to try and hold up the Liverpool man, he ended up scooping the ball away with his hand.

It was a clear and deliberate handball, and it's quite frankly baffling that referee Tim Robinson did not reach for his pocket again. Jota looked bewildered, while Slot and the rest of the bench were also up in arms.

Robinson will be an unfamiliar name to many Liverpool fans. He was only promoted to Premier League duty last season, and has rarely been involved with the biggest teams.

Stuart Attwell on VAR was unable to intervene. The technology is not called upon for second bookable offenses.

Liverpool.com says: There's no debate to be had. That was a second bookable offense.

That being said, Liverpool knows it should not be relying on refereeing decisions to get this result done. A big second half awaits.