Liverpool manager Arne Slot has acknowledged that Premier League referees are testing his patience, following a series of controversial decisions in recent matches. The 46-year-old, who is in his first season as the club’s head coach, admitted that he has reached a breaking point in his interactions with referees, especially after receiving three yellow cards this season. Slot will miss Liverpool’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Southampton due to his third booking, which came during the team’s 1-1 draw with Fulham on Saturday.
This suspension adds to the growing frustration Slot has felt towards the officiating in recent games. Earlier in the season, he was booked in matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, the latter coming after a mix-up with the fourth official. The official mistakenly thought Slot was directing profanity at him rather than at Liverpool player Ibrahima Konaté. While Slot is generally known for his calm demeanor on the touchline, the frustrations of dealing with refereeing decisions have pushed him to the limit.
Slot explained that while he usually remains composed, there are moments when the decisions made by referees, or even his players, trigger emotional reactions. “You always reflect but I think in general I am calm,” Slot said. “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.” He continued, stating that refereeing decisions and mistakes by his players are the primary triggers for his emotional responses. “They make more good decisions than the referees do in my opinion, for my team,” he added.
The most recent match against Fulham was a particularly testing one for Slot. In that game, there were several controversial decisions, including a foul on Alex Iwobi by Curtis Jones, which led to Slot’s booking. The situation became even more challenging for Liverpool when they were reduced to 10 men, making it harder to cope with the decisions being made. “In this game [Fulham] there were a lot of controversial decisions being made and then if you are down to 10 men that works out even harder,” Slot said. He acknowledged that both the Chelsea and Fulham games were emotional, and he admitted that he should have kept his composure better instead of letting his emotions get the better of him.
Reflecting on his actions, Slot acknowledged that his attempts to influence refereeing decisions by creating an atmosphere of frustration have not yielded positive results. “The mistake I have made two times already here, and one or two times in Holland, 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,” he 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.”
In addition to the suspension of Slot, Liverpool will be without key players for the upcoming match against Southampton. Andy Robertson, one of the team’s most important defenders, is suspended for the match, while Kostas Tsimikas, who is the natural replacement at left-back, is still recovering from an ankle injury. Tsimikas returned to training on Tuesday, but his participation in the match remains uncertain. If Tsimikas is unavailable, Slot may be forced to call upon academy players, including 21-year-old James Norris and 18-year-old Amara Nallo, to fill in at left-back. Diogo Jota, who made a goalscoring return against Fulham, will not be fit to start, though Federico Chiesa could make his long-awaited return from injury.
With only four defenders available for the Southampton match, Slot acknowledged that it would be a challenging situation. “We have only four defenders available and probably the ones that have started a lot will not play 90 minutes and maybe not even at all,” he said. “It’s going to be either academy players that are going to get playing time or players that nobody would expect to see in the last line that are going to play in the last line tomorrow.” The situation presents a difficult challenge for Liverpool, as they aim to maintain their competitive form despite these injuries and suspensions.
