While the Merseyside derby descended into chaos, Arne Slot seemed to have some idea that the game would head in the direction it did although I doubt he imagined getting a red card.
Slot may have expected some craziness in his first derby but I can’t imagine the Dutchman expected to be sent off along with his assistant and Curtis Jones. The scenes after full-time were vintage Premier League and should have been expected given it was the last derby at Goodison Park.
Before the game, though, Slot predicted the way the game would go based on how the previous derby had been spoiled by Everton throwing themselves to the ground to win cheap freekicks.
Slot said: “I’ve seen the game of last season, for example, and I think we were quite ready because after 10 minutes the referee blew his whistle 11 times, and 10 times in favour of Everton,” he brilliantly quipped.
“The Liverpool players were ready to compete, but every time they touched them it was a free-kick! I assume our players are ready for another battle tomorrow, for the simple reason that they’ve been ready the whole season and many of them are experienced.”
After full-time, a Liverpool fan shared this mind-boggling stat that proves Slot was right to expect similar from Everton and the officials.
https://twitter.com/michael_reid11/status/1889991645548122399
Jan Molby weights in on the Michael Oliver drama
When asked about the number of fouls and stoppages during the game, Jan Molby told the Liverpool FC podcast: “The key for Everton was to get the game the way they did, it was scrappy, it was physical and Liverpool had to try and step away from that and play their own game.
“Liverpool never got that kind of control over the game, where you felt as if they were going to see it out.
“So, yeah the referee has certainly helped the scrappiness of the game. It is not sour grapes but I just don’t think he had a great game.”
Ultimately, it was a game always designed to frustrate Liverpool and throw a spanner in the works but the Reds can now move on and focus on the upcoming matches.
Arne Slot shared his view on things now that he has calmed down a bit.
He said: “What happened was the five minutes for extra time that ended up being eight happened a lot. The emotions got the better of me and if I look back I would hope to do it differently. But there’s an ongoing process and I don’t want to disturb that.”
