Manager believes Virgil van Dijk’s first-half goal was incorrectly ruled out
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has slammed the decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk’s header in their 3-0 loss at Manchester City as “obvious and clear” misjudgement, although he made clear that his side cannot lean on the refereeing as excuses.
Late in the first half Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk nodded home from a corner only for the goal to be overturned. Andy Robertson, who was about three yards from the goal-line, was adjudged to have blocked the goalkeeper’s view.
“It is obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made, at least in my opinion,” said Slot. “[Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do.”
If the goal had been allowed, it would have pulled Liverpool back level. Slot said that could have changed the momentum but admitted that Liverpool were outplayed overall.
“Those things didn’t help us,” said Slot. “But again, City being 2-0 up at half-time was a fair reflection for the score.”
Liverpool’s defeat at the Etihad was their fifth loss of the Premier League campaign, leaving them mid-table and off the pace in the title race. Slot said now was not the time to talk about defending their title.
“It feels there’s too many [defeats],” Liverpool’s manager said. “And the last thing I should speak about now is the title race. We should first focus on getting results before we can even think about that.
“The reality is that we are eighth now. One team is quite far ahead, although City is maybe four points now away from Arsenal. The rest is quite close.
“I said last season many times, even when we were leading in the beginning, that the best way to judge the league table is of course after 38 games, but the next best thing to judge is after 19 games because then you all faced the same opponents.”
