9 hours ago
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Arne Slot has disputed the penalty decision that saw Liverpool crash to Champions League defeat against Galatasaray.
The Reds were undone by a 16th-minute spot-kick from Victor Osimhen after referee Clement Turpin ruled that Dominik Szoboszlai had fouled Baris Alper Yilmaz. Television replays suggested the hand contact was minimal, yet the decision stood following VAR review, with officials later encouraging Turpin to reverse a penalty initially given when Ibrahima Konate tumbled under challenge.
Slot feels Liverpool fell victim to a shrewd piece of gamesmanship from Turkey international Yilmaz at a raucous RAMS Park. "I haven't seen it back, but there was no contact with the feet," said the Reds manager.
"The last few weeks I am talking quite a lot about how we are a very fair team, and maybe their player was really smart, he felt something and made it feel as if it is an unbelievable hit.
"The referee thought he could not overturn it, though he did in the last minute when we got one."
The match marked a second consecutive defeat for Liverpool following the team's poor display in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League loss at Crystal Palace.
Slot continued: "For me it was a different loss to the one we had against Palace because there was a lot more to like, especially in the first half.
"In the second half it became harder and harder for us to create because first of all they were fighting with all they had and you have to give credit to them, and secondly the ball was hardly in play in the second half."
Slot made four alterations to his starting XI, including benching Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister while bringing in Jeremie Frimpong on the right wing.
However, the Liverpool manager rejected claims that rotation contributed to another disappointing performance. "There can be so many reasons why an individual makes an error pass or a mistake," said Slot.
"What you see is that there are a few players that miss pre-season, so you cannot play them every single game - well, you can, but that becomes a risk of players getting injured.
"We see this more and more because the demands go up more and more, so that means it is not always that I want to rotate, but sometimes I just need to because players are not ready to play three times 90 minutes in seven or eight days."
Slot added: "As much as I like my squad, we don't have 25 or 26, so if we end up with two, three or four injuries and have 15 or 16 players where Rio (Ngumoha) and Trey (Nyoni) are among these, then 15 or 16 need to play all the minutes, so things become complicated.
"This is a decision we have made together, and I completely believe in this because if you have 25 players, it is very hard to manage your squad.
"But as a result of that, with Hugo (Ekitike), Alex (Isak), Conor (Bradley), and Alexis not having the pre-season a player should have, that also results in that I cannot play them all the time."
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