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'I can't promise' - Arne Slot explains Michael Oliver exchange and 'emotional' Liverpool response

-Credit:Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
-Credit:Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images


Arne Slot admits he "can't promise" he will walk away from another potential showdown with match officials despite the Liverpool boss facing a disciplinary rap following his red card at Everton.

Slot has been charged by the Football Association for allegedly having acted "in an improper manner and/or used insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour" towards referee Michael Oliver and an assistant official that resulted in a red card following the final whistle of the controversial 2-2 Premier League draw at Goodison on Wednesday night.

Both Liverpool and assistant manager Sipke Hulshoff - who was dismissed in the post-match chaos along with midfielder Curtis Jones - have also been charged by the FA.

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Slot is facing an extended suspension if found guilty, having already served a one-match touchline ban this season for accruing three bookings before Christmas.

However, with the Reds boss and Hulshoff - who has been charged both for his red card and his subsequent reaction to the dismissal - having until next Wednesday to respond to the charges, they are both free to remain in the dugout for Sunday's Premier League visit of Wolves.

And Slot explained such shows of emotion are nothing new, having been involved in previous incidents when a manager in his native Holland.

"Yeah, (but) if you ask me now when, I don't know exactly," said the Liverpool boss. "But we are in a business that is quite emotional.

"I'm the type of manager that likes to control as much as I can, so if my player makes a wrong decision, I blame myself because I think I can influence that.

"But there's a part you can't influence, and that's mainly also the most difficult thing. If you have no influence at all and then you get emotional, like I did. During the game (against Everton), I wouldn't say I was calm during the game but especially in extra time it was probably just a bit too much to stay calm.

"The best thing I could have done was just walk inside, but unfortunately I didn't."

When asked if he will do that in future as a lesson, Slot said: "I hope, but I can't promise because I'm a human being. The way I am now, I would react the way I reacted after the game. But during the game I wasn't planning to react as I did after the game.

"But these seven or eight minutes extra time, if you just watch them back so many incidents happened in those seven or eight minutes that I got too emotional. Instead of going inside to calm down and then talk to the referee, I decided to walk on to the pitch, which wasn't the smartest thing to do in hindsight.

"What did I say? I am able to say to my wife and to my friends, but not in the media. But I do remember - I wasn't that emotional that I don't remember what I said."