Liverpool head coach Arne Slot praises English Premier League referees for avoiding the influences of manager’s reactions on the sidelines. Slot believes that emotional antics that work in other European competitions do not work against the English Premier League referees.
Liverpool have not enjoyed their relationship with officials in the past few seasons, occasionally facing the consequences of bad decisions. The Kop Times recently covered the hypocrisy surrounding the officiating as the media exaggerated an incident involving Virgil van Dijk and Marc Guehi in the Liverpool 0-1 victory over Crystal Palace this season.
The Reds struggled with officiating calls in their recent Premier League 2-1 victory over Chelsea where Slot received a booking. The Dutchman reacted emotionally to a decision by the match referee John Brooks but accepted his yellow card as just.
The game involved decisions that riled up the Anfield crowd and Liverpool players including legitimate shoulder tackles regarded as fouls Liverpool cannot continue to have an alienating relationship with the officials even if they have done nothing to instigate it.
Speaking to the media (via Daily Mail), Liverpool boss Slot praised the Premier League officials for not letting sideline reactions dictate their decision-making. He said:
“If I use my common sense, I would say we are role models. But we are also human beings. We sometimes feel if too many decisions go against you, emotions take the most out of you. ‘We try to be role models. I speak for myself. I try to keep calm but in the Chelsea game, too many important decisions went against my team. I’ve seen it once or twice in European competitions, managers who were able to influence the referee and then you feel you maybe need to do something against that. But here in England I haven’t experienced that at all. The referees were just not being influenced by my emotional act on Sunday and that has also not happened in all the previous games here.”
Liverpool will face Arsenal in the Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium with big consequences for the title race. The Reds must maintain composure against rivals skilled in using the “dark arts.”
Arsenal uses every loophole and unsavoury conduct to exploit any advantage they can get over their opponents during the game. Mikel Arteta’s men have survived severe punishment from the officials during the set-piece situations where they constantly foul the opposition goalkeepers.
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However, Arsenal have received three red cards already in the Premier League this season for the mandatory rule-breaking actions. Slot needs to make sure that his team plays their game without any distractions or provocations from their title-challenging opponents.
