How Arne Slot reacted in the stands to strange first-half Liverpool decision speaks volumes | OneFootball

It’s probably a good thing that Arne Slot wasn’t on the touchline during Liverpool’s hosting of Newcastle at Anfield on Wednesday night – particularly in light of one rather bizarre call in the first-half.

The Merseysiders had a relatively decent penalty shout denied after Mo Salah was felled in the box whilst attempting to race past Lewis Hall.

It seemed that the Egyptian very much had the beating of his man – who was linked with an Anfield summer transfer earlier today – who proceeded to take a tumble after losing his footing.

The No.11’s feet caught the Newcastle left-back, seeing the former’s run down the right flank come to a premature end.

Arne Slot left confused by officiating during Liverpool v Newcastle

(Pictures courtesy of TNT Sports)

We can understand why VAR was hesitant to overrule Stuart Atwell’s initial decision to not award a spot-kick to the hosts.

However, on the flip side, you could understand Salah’s frustration at missing out on another goalscoring opportunity. Let’s not forget this is a player who notoriously misses out on penalty calls.

Arne Slot most certainly appeared to sympathise, judging by TNT Sports match footage shared on X (formerly Twitter).

The Dutch head coach was spotted spreading his hands in confusion as he watched back the footage on a monitor in the stands amid a two-match touchline ban.

Ultimately it didn’t matter too much for the Reds

Fortunately, this looks set to not be much of a talking point after the full-time whistle, with us being two goals to the good (at the time of writing).

Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz combined wonderfully in the opening 45 to open the scoring before Mo Salah set up Alexis Mac Allister in the 18-yard box for another stunning first-time finish.

Another round of clinical excellence from the hosts in our bid to secure a 20th English top-flight title.

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