Arne Slot voiced his frustration that Marc Guehi wasn’t sent off for pulling Mohamed Salah’s shirt during Liverpool’s disappointing Premier League loss to Manchester City.
The Reds had taken the lead with 16 minutes left thanks to a stunning free-kick from Dominik Szoboszlai, only for Bernardo Silva to equalize and Erling Haaland to score a late penalty.
City thought they had a third when Alisson Becker went up for a corner and they countered, with substitute Rayan Cherki scoring from the halfway line.
However, referee Craig Pawson disallowed the goal and later sent off Szoboszlai for tugging Haaland’s shirt while challenging for a slow-moving ball.
When asked about the unusual decision, Slot highlighted Guehi’s earlier shirt-pull on Salah, which only earned a yellow card.
“Which decision are you asking about—the disallowed goal at City, the penalty in the away game, the clear red on Salah here, or Szoboszlai’s red?” Slot said. “These are just over two games, and there are plenty of big calls across all our matches that could have gone either way.
I can accept Dom’s red card—he fouled Haaland clearly, and it’s the rulebook. But Guehi’s shirt-pull on Salah, who would almost certainly have scored, should have been a red too. That’s my main frustration.”
Slot added that the penalty City won came after Alisson rushed out and fouled Mateus Nunes, even though the ball had gone out of play. “There was contact, the ball was out, and he couldn’t get it anymore. I’d rather focus on the obvious holding on Salah—it should get all the attention,” Slot said.
“Football fans might say, ‘leave Dom’s goal, it’s fine,’ but rules are rules. I just want consistency. My main frustration is the clear shirt-pull on Mo at 0-0, one-on-one with the goalkeeper.”
If you want, I can also make an even **tighter, punchy version** that reads like a sports news article while keeping Slot’s frustration front and center. Do you want me to do that?
