Arne Slot has admitted he has tried to "influence" the decisions of referees in the Premier League on two occasions, in order to help sway the momentum in favour of Liverpool.
It has been a spectacular start to his tenure as the Reds' boss, one which few may have expected. He has helped his side rank top of the Premier League table by December, and the prospect of winning the league title in his first season is well and truly alive.
It isn't often the Dutch tactician has found himself in tense situations thus far, given he has only coached a single loss and three draws in the league, but he has nonetheless confessed to resorting to the "dark arts", specifically inmatches against Chelsea and Fulham.
Slot: 'You Try to Influence As Much As You Can"
The Dutchman was quite honest about his touchline antics
Arne Slot
In his press conference following the clash with Fulham, Slot came clean regarding his antics on the touchline, revealing that he has previously been prone to attempts at influencing referee decisions.
Explaining what makes him lose his cool, Slot said: "I don’t know if it is smart to say this, but there is also a limit [to calmness] for me, let’s put it that way. And then I can get emotional and, unfortunately, that limit is only reached by refereeing decisions or the decisions my players make."
Matches against Chelsea and Fulham were particularly high-stakes situations for the Dutch boss, who added: "The Chelsea game was emotional. We should have had a second penalty but the VAR changed it, and there were a lot of controversial decisions being made. Then, if you are down to ten men, that works out even harder. The Chelsea game and the Fulham game was emotional and maybe I should have stayed just underneath instead of going above.
"You try to influence as much as you can. The mistake I have made two times already here, and one or two times in Holland, is sometimes you think that creating an atmosphere that the whole world is against you can lead to some positive decisions at the end of the game.
"But here, until now, in the Chelsea game and the Fulham game for the whole 90 minutes, it stayed the same. It wasn’t like after I tried to influence things a bit, the referee all of a sudden gave us one or two free kicks. I know that it doesn’t work, but sometimes you think, 'Can I influence that a bit?' But it didn’t help at all."
There will be no opportunity for Slot to test out his methods in the upcoming EFL Cup clash with Southampton, however. After receiving his third booking of the term against Fulham, the Liverpool boss will be serving a suspension from the sidelines, and will instead be watching his team from the stands.
Arne Slot Related
Arne Slot Can’t Rely on £140k p/w Liverpool Ace After Latest Update Emerges
The 28-year-old has a worrying fitness record which could prove to be detrimental in Liverpool's title race.