Arne Slot reveals what Milos Kerkez told him after brutal Liverpool substitution
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net.
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.
"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.
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.
Andy Robertson comes on for Milos Kerkez during Burnley 0-1 Liverpool.
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
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