Arne Slot admitted he withdrew Ibrahima Konaté at half-time against Wolves to prevent the Liverpool defender from receiving a second yellow card, as the Premier League leaders secured a nervous victory at Anfield.
Liverpool restored their seven-point advantage over Arsenal but played with doubts caused by James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute equaliser for Everton in the Merseyside derby, according to Slot. Konaté could have increased their problems when, after being booked for dragging back Matheus Cunha, he collided late with the Wolves playmaker shortly before the interval. The referee, Simon Hooper, ignored Wolves’ appeals for a second yellow and thus a red card. “I cannot change anything now but in my opinion it was a second yellow card,” Vítor Pereira, the head coach, said.
Slot, Liverpool’s head coach, clarified: “I took him off because of that. I saw him getting his first yellow – that for me was a soft yellow. If he got his second one for a shoulder push that would have again been a soft yellow so he would have been sent off for two soft yellows. I think the referee felt the same and that’s why he didn’t book him again.
“But I’ve watched football so many times in my life and I know that a player and the referee is then under pressure. So the next foul will lead to a referee thinking that maybe he should give it. It is so difficult to play 45 minutes against a strong Wolves team so I had to take Ibou off because you can’t play football knowing in your head you can’t make a foul against such good players as Wolves have.”
Cunha’s strike set up an anxious finale for Liverpool yet Slot praised the mentality of his team, particularly after events at Goodison Park on Wednesday. “I don’t think the nerves were too much, it had more to do with how Wolves came out in the second half. We showed immense mentality on Wednesday in the most difficult circumstances we faced this season. Then today at 2-0 up we think we have made it 3-0, but it was the correct decision to disallow it for offside, then we thought we had a penalty and again it was the correct decision to overturn it, and then they scored. Mentally that is not easy.
“For the first time this season, it looked like we were thinking: ‘Oh.’ That’s why these wins are probably more important than when you outplay Tottenham like we did here two weeks ago for 4-0. We need to show the same mentality this week at Aston Villa and Manchester City but play better on the ball.”
