Arne Slot has chosen not to add to the mounting pressure on embattled referee Michael Oliver, despite a disagreement over his red card decision at Everton last month.
The Football Association revealed on Tuesday the written reasons for the decision to impose a two-match touchline ban and a fine on Slot after he was charged for his conduct that led to his dismissal by Oliver at the end of the contentious 2-2 Premier League draw at Goodison.
It came to light that Slot disagreed with Oliver’s account of the events that resulted in both the Liverpool manager and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff being sent off amid the on-field pandemonium, for which both the Reds and Everton also accepted FA charges and were fined.
Oliver found himself at the center of another controversy last weekend when he failed to send off Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts for a tackle that landed Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta in hospital, with VAR eventually advising the foul was worthy of a red.
The referee has since been left out of the officiating roster for the upcoming round of Premier League matches. However, when asked for his response to the FA’s report, Slot maintained that it would set a better precedent not to further fan the flames on the matter.
The Reds boss, speaking at the Parc des Princes ahead of Liverpool’s crucial Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain, reflected on his pitchside emotions: “What I said also in the written report and I can say it one more time, the moment it happened I was quite emotional for everything that happened in the last seven or eight minutes and maybe during the whole game,” he admitted.
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“I chose to go on pitch instead of staying calm staying inside and then talking to Michael. Now I don’t have the same emotions anymore so I think I should set a better example than I set back then and don’t go into the situation again.
“It’s clear what I’ve written and what Michael has written. Michael has been in the news quite a lot recently and I don’t think it helps if I add something to that now I have my emotions under control.”
Liverpool’s squad for the PSG encounter includes Cody Gakpo, who was notably absent from open training earlier but travelled with the team.
However, his participation remains uncertain, as Slot revealed: “He was close to being ready to play again but unfortunately yesterday he had to block a shot and he felt a bit of pain again. We brought him with us to judge how if he can be part of the squad but it will be a close call.”
