Arne Slot admits he wasn’t surprised Everton captain James Tarkowski avoided a red card in the Merseyside derby – and claims to “hate” the rule that helped Liverpool to victory. Diogo Jota scored the only goal shortly before the hour to decide the 246th meeting between the teams at Anfield on Wednesday evening.
The result means the Reds remain 12 points clear of Arsenal at the Premier League summit and now require a maximum of 13 points in their remaining eight games to claim a record-equalling 20th title.
Tarkowski was booked after only 11 minutes when catching Alexis Mac Allister high on the leg following a strong challenge on the Liverpool midfielder, who required lengthy treatment before continuing. After a 10-second check, the decision of referee Sam Barrott to issue only a caution was upheld by VAR Paul Tierney.
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And Slot said: “Let me first say I don’t want to comment about a situation because so many people have already commented on that. Even people that don’t like Liverpool a lot were so clear and obvious what the decision should have been that there’s no need for me to comment on that.
“Was I surprised? No.
“I don’t mind if it takes 10 seconds or a minute. If you are VAR and you think it’s not a red card, you can say it in 10 seconds. You don’t have to wait to look at it for a minute.
“It’s a human being that makes the decision. I don’t mind if it takes 10 seconds, a minute, two minutes or three minutes. They should take the right decision and if I hear all the comments, people don’t think they made the right decision which fortunately they did with the goal, which was not offside according to the rules.”
Jota’s winner was allowed despite Luis Diaz standing in an offside position when Ryan Gravenberch’s pass intended for the Liverpool winger was cut out by Tarkowski. Jota pounced on the loose ball to score his first goal in 11 games.
Everton boss David Moyes was adamant the goal should not have stood but Slot, while unhappy with the rule, believes the correct decision was reached.
“Do I like the rule? No, I don’t like the rule,” said the Reds boss. “It’s a rule that is not helping the team that wants to attack. Normally we go to the halfway line, they (the opposition) kick the ball long to a player who is in an offside position, and my centre-backs feel like they have to head the ball away.
“I always ask the linesman ‘was he offside’ and they say ‘no, he was not interfering’. I hate that rule. But the execution of the rule was fortunately for us today well done in that situation.”
