English referees wearing out Liverpool boss Slot’s patience after facing a one-match ban on receiving a third yellow.
English referees are on the verge of getting to the nerves of Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
Despite acknowledging that Premier League referees are pushing him beyond his limitations, Arne Slot has stated that he needs to consider the touchline behaviour that has resulted in three yellow cards this season.
After receiving his third booking in Saturday’s draw with Fulham, the Liverpool head coach will serve a one-match suspension in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal at Southampton.
Additionally, Slot received a yellow card against Chelsea and Arsenal. The latter following an incident at the Emirates Stadium where the fourth official mistook him for Ibrahima Konaté and swore at him.
Although the 46-year-old Slot typically maintains his composure in the technical area. He acknowledges that his first season with English referees has been challenging.
“You always reflect but I think in general I am calm,” said Slot. He also has Andy Robertson suspended for the tie on Wednesday. “I don’t know if it is smart to say this but there is also a limit for me. Let’s put it that way, and then I can get emotional. Unfortunately that limit is only reached by refereeing decisions or the decisions my players make. They make more good decisions than the referees do in my opinion, for my team.
“In this game [Fulham] there were a lot of controversial decisions being made. Then if you are down to 10 men that works out even harder. The Chelsea game and this game were emotional. Maybe I should have stayed just underneath [the line] instead of going above.”
When Curtis Jones was given a penalty for fouling Alex Iwobi on Saturday by referee Tony Harrington, Slot erupted. John Brooks also gave him a ticket for demonstrating against the decision to reverse a penalty that was given during Liverpool’s victory over Chelsea in October.
“The mistake I have made two times already here, and one or two times in Holland. It is thinking that creating an atmosphere that the whole world is against you can lead to some positive decisions at the end of the game,” Slot said. “But in the Chelsea game and the Fulham game it stayed the same for the whole 90 minutes. It wasn’t like after I tried to influence things a bit the referee all of a sudden gave us one or two free-kicks. No, he kept the whole game the same. I know it doesn’t work, but sometimes you think. ‘Can I influence that a bit?’ But it didn’t help at all.”