Liverpool boss Arne Slot has pledged to be at his best boy scout behavior as he faces fellow title contenders Arsenal, alongside their own passionate manager Mikel Arteta on the touchline.
With the harsh glare of the spotlight being trained on behaviour in football, Slot admitted ahead of Sunday’s heavyweight clash at the Emirates that emotion had gotten the better of him when booked for protesting heatedly against Chelsea last weekend.
The Dutchman is obviously mindful of the fact that he would be standing alongside his rival Arteta, the latter being no stranger to manic touchline histrionics and is regarded as one of the most intense bosses in England, having served a touchline ban last season after receiving three yellow cards.
As for the more serious cases, Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was banned for five matches last week after spitting near officials. Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs has also been charged by the FA for misconduct after confronting officials in the tunnel after losing to Manchester City while Jose Mourinho was red-carded when Fenerbahce faced off against Manchester United on Thursday.
Touching on his own situation, Slot said: “If I use my common sense, I would say we are role models. But we are also human beings. We sometimes feel if too many decisions go against you, emotions take the most out of you. ‘We try to be role models. I speak for myself. I try to keep calm but in the Chelsea game, too many important decisions went against my team.”
Slot is confident the high standard of English refereeing does not require managers to put pressure on officials.
“I’ve seen it once or twice in European competitions, managers who were able to influence the referee and then you feel you maybe need to do something against that,” he added.
“But here in England I haven’t experienced that at all. The referees were just not being influenced by my emotional act on Sunday and that has also not happened in all the previous games here.”