Arne Slot’s reaction was one of relief and calm at the final whistle as Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Anfield on Saturday.
After three-straight league wins the Reds have now tightened their grip on a top five finish and look almost certain to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season.
Below is the latest Arne Slot reaction from Anfield after their win against Palace.
Arne Slot reaction
Slot was asked if the game became more nervy than it should have been based on how it played out as Liverpool looked in control at 2-0 up.
“Yes and no. It became much more nervy and I don’t think we deserved to concede that goal in that particular fashion but otherwise Palace was much more in in the game than the 2-0 lead of us showed so it wasn’t a complete surprise to me that they could score somewhere in the second half. Because they were getting closer and closer but yeah the way we conceded was of course not as expected.”
Asked about Palace’s goal, which saw Daniel Munoz getting plenty of stick from the Liverpool fans as he didn’t knock the ball out of play when Liverpool goalkeeper Freddie Woodman went down with an injury and instead chipped the ball in to an empty net to make it 2-1, Slot instead focused on the referee not blowing his whistle to stop play.
“I don’t blame them by the way I think the referee should stop the game which he did twice or three times earlier in the game but you can see how I’m talking a little bit frustrated about that that goal,” Slot added. “As I said the amount of times that referees stop play for players that are not even injured, we all know that this happens a lot at the moment in the Premier League, overall in the world it is going to become a tactic to pretend that you’re injured for the referee to stop the play.”
Slot added: “Yeah another game another referee decision that didn’t go enough in our favour, but the good thing is it didn’t hurt us,”
He was also asked about Mohamed Salah coming off with what looked like an injury, as he waved to the Anfield crowd longingly on his way off the pitch as he prepares for his final few games as a Liverpool player.
“Yeah, another win and another injury so it’s the story of our season,” Slot smiled. “What was the prognosis? That’s too early to say but we all know how hard it is for him to leave the pitch… so that tells you something but we have to wait and see how bad it is.”
Slot was asked in his post-match press conference if Salah would miss the final four league games of the season.
“We don’t know, that’s the best answer I can give because if I say it might be a chance then probably all the headlines are, ‘there might be a chance…', Slot said. “We simply don’t know but what we do know is the season is in four weeks over, so there are not a lot of games being played.
“We have to wait and see how his injury is and if he is able to return to play. What I do know about Mo is throughout all of these years he has taken such good care of his body that he will have the minimum time required to recover from an injury. Let’s hope for the best and that he is available in the last part [of the season].”
