Arne Slot has explained why he was – in his own words – ‘running around like a lunatic’ during the first half of Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Galatasaray on Wednesday night.
The first half-hour of the match was littered with stoppages as several players from the away team melodramatically threw themselves to the turf in petulant displays of mock pain, with the Reds’ head coach cutting a much more animated figure than usual on the touchline.
The 47-year-old was far from pleased to see only five minutes of stoppage time being signalled at the end of a first half which was, to put it diplomatically, stop-start.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot touched upon his demonstrative touchline behaviour last night and why he felt compelled to get his point across to the officials.
He explained (via liverpoolfc.com): “I think it was mainly the connection between the players and the fans. I hope that the fans were more focused on how the players played than what I was doing down the line, but at a certain moment enough is enough.
“I faced it now far too many times that we are trying to create momentum, we are trying to play and then someone is on the floor again for half an hour. Enough is enough, so I thought I had to do something about it.
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“I’ve tried it many times to go to the fourth official to influence, to say, ‘Are you aware? Are you aware? Are you aware now?’ Never ever this season we got the extra time that we deserved.
“That’s why I said what I said to the fans before the game – we have to create something to fight this together, because this is very difficult. It’s not a tactic I can do something against, except for running around like a lunatic down the line, maybe.
“Maybe I have to do this more often, but I hope it gets noticed more and more by the people who have to do something about it.”
It’s difficult to remember Slot being as visibly angry in his previous 101 games in charge of Liverpool – the only standout contender was his tirade towards Michael Oliver at the end of the controversial 2-2 draw at Goodison Park last season, which landed him with a touchline ban.
In fairness to the Dutchman, even a monk’s patience would’ve been tested by the pathetic time-wasting antics of Galatasaray on Wednesday night, which Steven Gerrard rightly described on TNT Sports as an ’embarrassment’.
The Turkish side’s gamesmanship ultimately did them no good as they were blown away by a marvellous Reds performance, and even at 3-1 down on aggregate when a goal for the visitors could’ve led to frayed nerves around Anfield, they never looked remotely like scoring.
Slot was quite right to call out the away team’s behaviour in the first half especially, so long as he can sufficiently keep a lid on his temper in future games so as not to be landed with another touchline sanction during a critical final two months of the season for Liverpool.
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