Manchester City defender Ruben Dias was ridiculed for his comments after the Southampton draw last week
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Guardiola and Slot
Guardiola and Slot
Manchester City defender Ruben Dias got some unexpected backing from Liverpool boss Arne Slot after a controversial FA Cup final. City lost to Palace in a game where the officials missed a clear red-card offence from Dean Henderson, with the keeper going on to save Omar Marmoush's penalty.
Pep Guardiola was also unhappy with what he saw as timewasting from Palace in the second half, approaching Henderson at the full-time whistle over the tactics. The Palace keeper retorted that City had been given ten minutes of injury time in the second half to get an equaliser but failed to come up with one.
City's manager was still unhappy with the way that the team's rhythm was upset, even if he conceded that they should have done better over the course of the match. These comments followed on from serious frustration from Dias the week before in the way of a 0-0 draw with Southampton.
Those comments drew an instant denial from Guardiola as he said that every team could set up how they wanted, and the defender was widely ridiculed given City's position in comparison to Southampton. However, Slot believes that timewasting is a serious issue that teams are facing as Liverpool look to build on their Premier League title win.
“Teams got to know us better and tried to find answers to our playing style. But one of the things you cannot do anything about is that tactics are being used that have nothing to do with football," he said.
“Delaying the start of the game, pretending you are injured, taking one minute for a free-kick, one minute for a throw-in. That is my main worry.
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“Every time we drop points, that happened… goalkeepers taking one and a half minutes. When we have dropped points, that tactic was used. I like to say it now after us winning the league, not losing a game.
“Ruben Dias said something about it too, which is not always the best moment to say it after dropping points. But for me he was right.
"Southampton can do what they want but I think we as a league must find an answer. People always tell you the Premier League is so intense, so intense!
"But there are tactics to slow the game down. I don’t wake up during the night but if I did I might be like … ’S***! There’s no answer to be found to that type of play.’”
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