Arne Slot was shown a yellow card for the second Premier League game in a row, and he has explained how his comments about Arsenal were misinterpreted by the fourth official.
The Liverpool boss is quickly coming to the realisation of why Premier League officials drove his predecessor to insanity, with more head-scratching decisions at the Emirates.
But it was Arsenal‘s performance that set Slot’s second yellow card in as many games in motion, and his explanation of events in his post-match press conference was quite entertaining.
“Where last time I said, ‘I completely deserved the yellow card’, this time I don’t think I did,” Slot started.
“I said after so many times that they were on the floor, which can happen in football, I don’t blame them for that, but they always fell down after they had ball possession and that took the energy out of the game.
“I said to Ibou, ‘This is a f***ing joke’, and the fourth official thought I said it to him, ‘You are a f***ing joke’, which is definitely not what I said.
“But I got a yellow for that so now I have two, so I have to be careful now.”
The answer led to rumbles of laughter from members of the press, with Slot delivering the verdict with his usual stoic tone – though there was a little smile thrown in there.
The Dutchman had a point, though. Arsenal use breaks in play to take the sting out of the game, and they have an unusual number of players who consistently go down with cramp – a medical mystery!
Slot clearly needed to vent his frustrations, but the fourth official may have taken that one a little too personally.
