Arne Slot defends Merseyside derby decision that had David Moyes furious

Arne Slot backed the match officials' choice to add merely three minutes of stoppage time following their Merseyside derby triumph against Everton, despite the anger of David Moyes.

The Reds defeated their neighbourhood rivals in Saturday's 247th derby meeting as strikes from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike proved decisive in the opening half, despite Idrissa Gueye's response shortly before the hour.

Moyes was left furious with the decision to only award three minutes of additional time, after what he felt was a game filled with stoppages. Social media has been filled with complaints about how much additional time was given, with Rio Ferdinand also voicing his opinion.

Speaking after the game, Moyes bemoaned the decision, saying: “Everybody who's connected with Everton will tell you that coming to Anfield to try and get decisions is difficult.

“I continue to mention it because last year we lost 1-0 to what looked like an offside goal. That was given.

“Today I found it really difficult to think there was only three minutes added time on. I also found it difficult that there were quite a lot of free-kicks and the referee said we couldn't play until he was ready.

“We're trying to help our players all the time. We get done a couple of times last week against Aston Villa.

"They played quick free kicks, balls over. I didn't see the referee pulling that back.”

But now, speaking ahead of Tuesday night's game against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, Slot has defended the referee, saying he felt it was a perfectly reasonable amount of time.

He said: "A lot has been said about the added time against Everton but I would have loved to play on for 34 seconds more because we were in a five-v-two situation at that moment.

"Now that tells you, I think, all about the mentality we have, always wanting to score a goal.

"The three minutes were completely correct [against Everton], by the way, because there were only three moments where a substitution was made.

"There was no time-wasting because that's not what we do – unfortunately, I have to say, sometimes – and there was no treatment of injuries, one goal scored.

"Then you come to three [minutes]. Where in many other games when we need a goal, there's a lot, a lot, a lot of time-wasting going on, I can tell you."

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