ARNE SLOT BREAKS HIS SILENCE ON HIS RED CARD AFTER MICHAEL OLIVER CLASH - AND GIVES HIS VERDICT ON CHAOTIC END TO THE MERSEYSIDE DERBY

Arne Slot has broken his silence on the red card he was branded in a chaotic end to the Merseyside derby on Wednesday.

Liverpool came within moments of going nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table after coming from behind to lead local rivals Everton thanks to strikes from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah.

But, in the eighth minute of stoppage time, Toffees defender James Tarkowski fired in a volley to trigger chaotic scenes that saw fans run onto the pitch and wild celebrations in the final-ever derby at Goodison Park.

After full time, meanwhile, ugly scenes transpired after Abdoulaye Doucoure goaded the away fans, which resulted in Curtis Jones confronting him and both players being sent off on the back of a mass brawl.

Following that, Slot himself was sent off alongside his assistant Sipke Hulshoff on the back of a clash with referee Michael Oliver that saw him appear to pull the referee during a hand shake and exchange words.

Now, after not taking part in a post-match press conference due to his sending off, Slot has spoken on the events for the first time, roughly 36 hours on. 

 

'There's an ongoing process now and I think I have to respect that we have to respect that so can't go into details,' he began. 'What happened was that the extra time, five minutes that ended up being eight, happens a lot. 

'The emotions go the better of me. I would love to do it differently and am looking to do it differently next time as well, but I don't want to disturb the ongoing process.' 

As a result, Jones will miss the clash with Wolves this weekend, meaning Liverpool are a man down on their usual four midfield options.

It means Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Mac Allister will almost certainly start, but Jones will be back for the midweek game against Aston Villa as he was shown two yellow cards rather than one red.

'The good thing is we have played so many games,' Slot continued, speaking on Jones. 'He got a second yellow I assume so that's only one game. Next Wednesday there is a game, he comes back from an injury so he already missed a few games.

'I liked him a lot when he came on. It was our best part of the game, the only part of the game where I felt a bit of comfort and where it felt like a bit of control. That is maybe because we went 2-1 up.

'I like a lot that he stands up for the team but I think there are also other ways to do that for the team and the fans. I will talk with him about that. But it is the same for me, I should have acted differently after the game as well.

'But it is an emotional game and sometimes people make the wrong decisions in an emotional moment and that's what I did.'

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2025-02-14T09:37:25Z