Liverpool manager Arne Slott has weighed in after Maxence Lacroix was controversially sent off against Manchester United.
Referee Chris Kavanagh sent off Maxence Lacroix during Crystal Palace’s defeat to Man United.
Liverpool manager Arne Slott has called on the Premier League to correct discrepancies in key decisions, comparing Maxence Lacroix’s red card to Marc Guéhi’s tugging on Mohamed Salah’s shirt in last month’s defeat. Crystal Palace defender Lacroix was given his marching orders after conceding a penalty, sparking United’s fightback to win 2-1 on Sunday.
Slott weighed in at Monday’s press conference after some questioned the decision to award Chris Kavanagh a penalty and a red card, including Gary Lineker, who called the sending-off “harsh”. The Liverpool manager highlighted the inconsistency between referees and VAR, and brought up Guehi’s incident earlier in the season in which he was not penalized.
In last month’s match, with Liverpool and Man City tied on points, Salah was pulled back by Guehi as he burst through the front of goal, and the England international was shown a yellow card and awarded a free-kick after VAR agreed with the on-field decision.
However, against United, VAR intervened and determined that Lacroix should have been sent off, and Kavanagh did not wave his card. Slott felt both decisions deserved red cards and insisted the Premier League needed to hold back when mistakes were made.
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“It’s very similar. The only difference is Mo had his shirt pulled and a hand on his shoulder,” Slott said at a press conference this afternoon.
“If you look closely, you can see the same distance. Maybe even the distance between Guehi and Dias was greater than the distance between Palace’s centre-backs.”
“The moment I saw it, I knew what happened to us in that situation, so VAR would probably be checking if it was a penalty or if it was inside or outside the box, but he would never give a red card for that.
“I feel this way about VAR sometimes because every time we start the Premier League they say there are only two wrong calls in the whole season and in both situations you would expect VAR to intervene.
Arne Slott feels Marc Gehi should have been sent off against Man City last month (Image: (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images))
“Nine times out of 10 in soccer, there’s a difference between ‘The referee gave a red card, but I accept the decision and walk away from the red card,’ and ‘The referee didn’t give a red card, but I accept the decision and I’m avoiding the decision.’
“However, in neither situation did the referee issue a red card and in one situation he overturned two red cards.
“For me, one of the two is a mistake, so when you come into the team at the end of the season you have to say, ‘OK, we didn’t just make one or two mistakes.’
“But what they mistakenly mean is if VAR overturns it the wrong way. You can expect two to be already a lot in that respect.
“For me, this (Lacroix’s foul) was a red card. Guehi’s foul was also a red card, but not everyone supported me.
“The committee then said it was the correct call, so we expect the committee to say five times in the future that the wrong call was made by VAR and the referee.”
After Bruno Fernandes scored the equalizer, Benjamin Sesco replaced Provider in the 65th minute to score the winning goal, and Lacroix’s red card was the turning point in the match.
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