2 hours ago
1
Liverpool boss Arne Slot says Milos Kerkez told him that he felt a push in the back when he went down far too easily against Burnley and was booked for simulation by the referee, Michael Oliver.
Kerkez was hooked before the half-time whistle at Turf Moor because he was treading a tightrope following his earlier caution. And when the Hungarian was penalized for a foul on the halfway line, Slot decided he had to bring on the experienced Andy Robertson.
"I said already to him that it wasn’t smart and he replied to me that he felt some arm in his back," Slot said in his post-match press conference. "But let’s be clear: it wasn’t a penalty!
"If there was contact, yes or no, I cannot tell you. But it’s never smart. It is funny, by the way, that the two dives — if this was a dive — we’ve made in the year and a few months that I’m here both led to a yellow card.
"[The first] led to the suspension of Ryan [Gravenberch] in the last game of the season and now [with Kerkez], so we’re not really good at it!
"I see it happening a lot without referees giving yellows, but the moment we do it — if it was a dive, he told me he felt something, but it wasn’t a foul — then it’s not smart. That’s also clear."
While Slot wasn't impressed by Kerkez going down too easily, it was the risk of him being sent off that saw him taken off. With Robertson in reserve, it was an obvious move to make.
"Not only the yellow card, also that afterwards he played the ball, no foul at all, but the referee blew his whistle," Slot said.
"This happens in football, the reaction of the fans — and I also saw players trying to go to the referee, implying ‘hey, if you think this is a foul, maybe you should give a yellow for it!’.
“It would have been ridiculous of course, but then it’s a risk. The only way we could lose this game is if we went down to 10.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
"With 11 vs. 11 we could have drawn it but couldn’t have lost it, because they were never over the halfway line let alone in our 18-yard box.
"I didn’t want to take that risk, which was hard for Milos because normally you don’t have to take a player off if he has a yellow, but I felt this was the best choice to make."
Liverpool.com says: Kerkez has had a slightly shaky start to life at left-back but he is a young player and he is very talented. His dive at Burnley was unnecessary and it was that which saw him taken off; it was too risky to leave him on the field.
English (US) ·