After a fairly serene season, Liverpool have had plenty to get irate about over recent days.
Firstly, a much-changed Reds team put in an abysmal display in the FA Cup and were beaten by Plymouth Argyle on Sunday.
Then, with the regulars in the Liverpool squad restored, the Reds saw a hard-fought lead slip in the final seconds of the Merseyside Derby against Everton.
Arne Slot was incensed following James Tarkowski’s late equaliser and was sent off after berating referee Michael Oliver at full-time.
With Oliver at fault for at least one of the Everton goals, Slot was right to be upset but could now be punished with a two-game touchline ban.
It caps a disappointing few days for the Liverpool head coach. But he at least appears to have picked up a fan in Arsenal legend Ian Wright.
Ian Wright praises Arne Slot’s Liverpool ‘anger’
Slot’s anger had likely been bubbling ever since he witnessed the embarrassment that was Liverpool’s display against Plymouth.
Although the Reds team featured a number of fringe and academy players, they’d have still been expected to beat the club bottom of the Championship.
That they didn’t was fine really, as long as Liverpool beat Everton. Still, even after the draw, Steve Nicol backed Slot’s decision to rest key players.
And Wright has also praised the Dutch coach, admitting that he ‘loved’ hearing Slot call out his players following the Plymouth defeat.
“I loved listening to Arne Slot after the Plymouth game because he was disgusted,” the former striker told The Overlap.
“It was a good one, it wasn’t like out of control, he was just very concise with the anger. You could see the anger, but it was like he couldn’t believe it.
“With the players coming in he’d be looking at those players thinking ‘this is a team going for the league, you lot have been on the outskirts, you get your opportunity to come in and then you lose against Plymouth’, with all due respect.”
Wright weighs in on title race
As a hero of Liverpool’s closest title challengers Arsenal, Wright also weighed in on how he sees the current race to win the Premier League.
Speaking before the Reds 2-2 draw with Everton on Wednesday, the 61-year-old claimed that Slot’s team almost had it wrapped it.
“It’s in Liverpool’s hands,” says Wright. “Liverpool have to lose games and Arsenal have to win games. And we’ve got to win games without one of the guys who scores our goals [Kai Havertz].
“So, you’re just holding onto anything you can. I would never sit here and say it’s totally done, but it’s nearly totally done!”
It remains to be seen how Arsenal deal with the news that Kai Havertz is set to miss the rest of the season, but Liverpool’s failure to beat Everton will have likely given them a little boost.
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