Manager Arne Slot will have to manage without an important defender in the coming weeks after Liverpool played their first of five matches in just 15 days, drawing 2-2 against Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday.
Slot, visibly frustrated, confronted referee Michael Oliver shortly after the match ended. Both Slot and his assistant, Sipke Hulshoff, were sent off following a heated dispute with the officials.
Lip-reading expert Jeremy Freeman told SPORTbible what Slot allegedly said during the incident. “That’s not a push? It’s a f**king disgrace… if you go and watch that again,” Slot reportedly yelled at an assistant referee. He also added, “Well done,” to another linesman and sarcastically told Oliver, “Great game” before shaking his hand. After receiving the red card, Slot remarked, “Sure, you give me a red for that? I will check it out for later… me and you, yeah? Sure, give me a red card… we’ll talk after?”
Following the match, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk expressed his disappointment. “Obviously, the feeling is disappointment, and it will be for today and tonight,” Van Dijk told TNT Sports. “But from tomorrow, we focus on Wolves, and we aim for the three points then and keep moving forward. We know we have many games before the international break, so there’s no point in dwelling on this result. We wanted to win here, we could have won here, maybe we should have won here. But it is what it is – we take it and move on.”
Now, Liverpool faces another blow as Van Dijk’s defensive partner Joe Gomez is expected to be out for an extended period, according to The Times.
Gomez’s season has been plagued by a recurring leg injury, which caused him to miss ten consecutive matches earlier in the campaign before returning in the 1-0 FA Cup loss to Plymouth Argyle last weekend. However, he only played ten minutes before being substituted. Slot confirmed the injury involves the same leg and that Gomez will undergo further tests to determine the extent of the injury. He is expected to miss a significant portion of the season.
