Arne Slot questions Michael Oliver decision after Liverpool loss to Man United - 'You would hope'

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

The Reds suffered their fourth successive loss when they were beaten 2-1 in the Premier League by their bitter North West rivals at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.United went ahead after just 63 seconds in controversial fashion when Bryan Mbeumo was allowed to go on and score despite Alexis Mac Allister being prone on the turf with a serious head injury after accidentally being caught by Virgil van Dijk’s elbow.Mac Allister subsequently needed lengthy treatment and stitches, with the Premier League later stating the goal stood because referee Michael Oliver and his assistants hadn’t seen the Liverpool man laying on the turf motionless on the halfway line for several moments before the goal.And Slot said: “The main thing I should do now is not complain at these kind of things."At that moment, we could have done much better after Macca was on the floor, we should have done better but the health care of the players is something that is important and if a player needs four stitches, you would hope everyone understands he needed treatment.“But we could have done better and that is not the reason we lost. The reason is we missed far too many chances to win a game of football.“I’ve said it many times and hoping I’m not saying it to you but everyone understands a bit better that we are not a team, which I see a lot in football that goes to the floor pretending it is a head injury so they kill the counter-attack.“That is not who we are, we never go to the floor.

We are a fair team so if a player of ours goes to the floor, you would hope everyone would say it is Liverpool, they don’t do these things but that is not an excuse for conceding the goal and losing this game.”Cody Gakpo struck the post three times before equalising on 78 minutes, only for Harry Maguire to score six minutes later after Liverpool failed to properly clear a set-piece.The Reds wasted a number of other chances and Slot pinpointed two reasons for their latest defeat.“What went wrong? The result and the fact we went 1-0 down so early,” he said.“United have so many quality players and brought in some new ones this summer and if they come to us in a low block, playing so many long balls, then the last thing you want is to go 1-0 down as that gives them more belief.“But if you’d have told me we were 1-0 down against such a United team and we’d create eight, nine or 10 open chances I’d say I don’t think that was possible.

But it was possible.“So the second thing that went wrong is that for all the chances we got we only scored 1-0.“And I’ve said many times it’s almost impossible to win a big game of football with a negative set-piece balance. And we conceded from another one and that led to us losing the game.”Liverpool sale knocks 50% off kit and merchThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it.