Arne Slot claims Liverpool hurt by ‘honesty’ after ‘weird’ referee decision in Community Shield | OneFootball

Arne Slot believes Liverpool can be too honest for their own good and says their reluctance to dive is costing them free-kicks.

Head coach Slot is adamant he will not tell his players to change, but remains aggrieved that Ryan Gravenberch was booked for diving against Crystal Palace in May, because he thinks Liverpool are the fairest team in the league.

Slot was further annoyed when new signing Florian Wirtz stayed on his feet in the Community Shield and referee Chris Kavanagh did not penalise Palace.

Gravenberch is suspended for Liverpool’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth on Friday, though, because of a straight red card he received against Palace that, contrary to Slot’s recollection, meant he would have been banned anyway.

But the Dutchman said: “It's not funny – I can find another word - but everyone has forgotten how he got his suspension, he got two yellow cards; the first for a dive. If there is one team in the league that is, in my opinion, the most honest when we play.

“I sometimes blame them that they never try to make from a foul a little bit more, and never dive and never time delays, and all these kind of things, then it is us and we have a suspension now for a player diving.”

Slot watched his former club Feyenoord lose a Champions League qualifier against Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce and felt they were more streetwise than Liverpool.

He explained: “I saw this week Fenerbahce v Feyenoord and I saw a lot of moments where players were really smart. These kind of things, should we use them? I'm not so sure. For me, the best game last season I was part of was Paris Saint-Germain against us, especially our home game. I liked that a little bit more than the away game.

“It was so high intensity because both teams were just here to play and not to try to pretend a foul was more or time delaying. I am most proud of the fact of who we are, and we won the league last season with the team we were so let us stay who we are.

Arne Slot praised his players for the way they have dealt with the tragedy (PA Wire)

“I think it was a great moment in the game against Palace – I talked to the fourth official about it - they hold Florian in midfield and he didn’t fall over, and the referee says 'If you don’t fall, I don’t give a free-kick, which is a little bit weird.

“Then a fraction later they fell down in a moment which wasn't even a foul and the referee thought: 'Oh, he fell down so it probably is a foul'.

“We had much more ball possession than Palace, but we made 13 fouls and they made five. That tells you also about who we are. I'm not saying Palace are different to us, let that not be the headline. But we are a very fair team, that is clear also maybe the reason we won the league so why change something which went well.”