Arne Slot has advised referee John Brooks needed to show he wouldn’t be intimidated by the Anfield crowd throughout Liverpool‘s 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Sunday’s sport featured a number of VAR checks together with an incident within the sixth minute the place Tosin Adarabioyo was proven a yellow card for pulling again Diogo Jota, who threatened to burst by way of the Chelsea defence simply previous the midway line.
Liverpool took the lead after Mohamed Salah transformed a Twenty ninth-minute penalty, awarded for Levi Colwill’s problem on Curtis Jones however they had been denied a second spot-kick on the stroke of half-time.
Brooks initially pointed to the spot after Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez collided with Jones within the field however was despatched to overview the choice by VAR official Michael Oliver and subsequently determined no penalty ought to be given.
Nicolas Jackson equalised for Chelsea on 48 minutes — a objective that was deemed offside on the sector however overturned on VAR overview — earlier than Salah crossed for Jones to attain the winner on 51 minutes.
Liverpool held on to safe a victory which returned them to the highest of the Premier League however Slot advised they might have loved a extra snug afternoon had the officers adopted a unique method.
Requested concerning the Anfield environment, the ex-Feyenoord boss mentioned: “The followers had been actually necessary for us. I do not know if that is one thing individuals say in England however they mentioned at my former membership, which was additionally a powerful stadium, that ‘yeah, the referees are a bit impressed by the group and that is why you get the simple selections in your favour.’
“However at the moment confirmed regardless of how loud the followers had been, the referee simply needed to point out that he was in a position to not give the selections he needed to make. So it did not assist us with the referee however it positively helped our gamers as a result of they needed to work so laborious.
“If each time they cheer so laborious for you in case you make a block deal with, or Darwin [Núñez] sprinted again, or all these moments, that positively helps you mentally. They had been actually necessary for the gamers however sadly, it did not occur what all individuals all the time assume that Anfield all the time provides you straightforward penalties.
“Is that true or not? At this time, it confirmed once more that it wasn’t.”
Slot described Sunday’s win over Chelsea as essentially the most tough of his tenure so far.
“Many different video games had been laborious however this might need been the toughest possibly due to the quantity of high quality gamers they’ve and the construction they’ve,” the Dutchman mentioned. “We needed to struggle actually laborious to get this one over the road.”