Why Arne Slot was booked during Crystal Palace vs Liverpool as Mikel Arteta sent warning - The Mirror

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was booked in the game against Crystal Palace for breaching a rule that Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta is often guilty of breaking

Arne Slot endured a nightmare first 15 minutes of Liverpool's Premier League clash against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. The champions headed into the clash having won every game so far this season minus their Community Shield defeat to the Eagles.

Palace have caused Liverpool major problems in recent years, and that continued on Saturday afternoon when Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring after just nine minutes when Liverpool failed to clear a corner.

A medical emergency in the crowd saw the game paused for roughly 10 minutes, and amidst that incident, Slot was shown a yellow card by referee Chris Kavanagh. It was later revealed that the reason for his booking was for leaving his technical area when arguing the legitimacy of Palace's opener.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta can be regularly seen outside of his permitted zone, so he could pick up a few cautions if this ruling continues to be upheld by officials.

However, Slot was perhaps right to argue whether or not a corner should have been given, with replays showing that it should have actually been a goal kick. Nonetheless, Liverpool defended the set-piece horrendously, with Ibrahima Konate having a particularly challenging first 45 minutes.

He joined Slot in the referee's notebook for dragging down Jean-Phillipe Mateta midway through the first period, with it not being the first time the French defender has struggled this season.

Jamie Carragher was far from pleased by his performance in the opening day win over Bournemouth, but he will likely have to keep playing.

That is because he, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are the only fit and senior options available to Slot as natural centre-backs. Summer signing Giovanni Leoni was dealt a heartbreaking blow on his debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup earlier this week.

After being stretchered off during the 2-1 victory on Tuesday night, Slot confirmed on Friday morning that the centre-back was facing a long spell on the sidelines.

"He is not in a good place because he tore his ACL, which means he will be out around a year," he said.

"Being so young and coming to a new country and playing so well in your first game, it's very hard to take the positives.

"But you try to look at that, and that is that he is still so young, and he has so many years still to go after he recovers."

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