Arne Slot admitted “emotions got the better of me” as he reflected on his red card following Wednesday’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park.
The Liverpool head coach was sent off for his complaints to referee Michael Oliver after James Tarkowski’s 98th minute equaliser was allowed to stand following a lengthy VAR review.
Slot and assistant manager Sipke Hulshoff, who also received a red card in the aftermath, both face the threat of touchline bans if, as expected, they are charged by the Football Association (FA) with misconduct.
“There’s an ongoing process now and I have to respect that we have to respect that so I can’t go into details,” Slot said.
“I think what happened was that the extra time — the intentional five minutes ended up being eight.
“The emotions got the better of me. If I look back at that, I would love to do it differently. I’m hoping to do it differently next time as well.
“But what has exactly been said or what has happened, I just told you that there’s an ongoing process and I don’t want to disturb that.”
Asked if he was more angry about the amount of added time than the challenge by Beto on Ibrahima Konate which went unpunished in the build up to Tarkowski’s late equaliser, Slot added: “Many things happened in extra time that led to me being quite emotional.
“When they (VAR) checked, I thought maybe the only thing that could happen is they look back at the foul. All of a sudden I was happy because ‘oh maybe it’s offside’. Then after 10 minutes you hear their fans cheering so it was ‘okay, it wasn’t offside’. Many things happened but it wouldn’t be smart to go into every incident.”
Slot gave his players Thursday off but he plans to sit down with Curtis Jones to talk about the scenes which followed the final whistle at Goodison.
Jones reacted angrily to Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure celebrating in front of the away end with both players sent off for a second yellow card. The Liverpool midfielder will serve a one-game ban when Wolverhampton Wanderers visit Anfield on Sunday.
“I like a lot that Curtis stands up for the team but there are also other ways to do that for the team and for the fans maybe,” Slot said.
“I will talk with him about that. But it’s the same for me. I should have acted differently after the game as well. But it’s an emotional sport. Sometimes individuals out of emotion make the wrong decision and that’s definitely what I did.”
Cody Gakpo is a doubt for Sunday after picking up a knock against Everton, while Joe Gomez (hamstring) and Tyler Morton (shoulder) remain sidelined.
Despite conceding late on at Goodison, Slot saw positives in the draw which extended Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
“It felt immediately after the game that we lost two points but over the whole 98 minutes I didn’t feel constantly that we were the ones who were going to win the game,” he said.
“It felt like an equal game and a draw maybe a fair result, but we were so close to winning.
“We have been praised so many times this season about how well these players can play, but they showed a different side to them on Wednesday. They were mentally so strong in a game played in the most difficult circumstances.
“We didn’t play our best game in terms of ball possession but I look at how much they fought together. To fight so hard gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming 14 games. They showed me that we are a very difficult team to beat.”
GO DEEPER
The spats, the scraps, the bedlam at Goodison Park: This is what we want to see, no?
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
