FA report uncovers what Slot and Hulshoff said to Michael Oliver after Merseyside derby | OneFootball

A report from the Football Association has revealed what Arne Slot and Sipke Hulshoff allegedly said to Michael Oliver immediately after last month’s Merseyside derby.

The 2-2 draw at Goodison Park ended in acrimony as Curtis Jones and Abdoulaye Doucoure were shown red cards for their part in a melee at the final whistle after the Everton midfielder taunted Liverpool fans.

The referee wasn’t done there as he also administered the same sanction to the Reds’ head coach and his assistant after they approached him straight after the final whistle in what was deemed to be a confrontational manner.

Slot and Hulshoff were subsequently awarded two-game touchline bans over the incident, with the first half of those being served in last week’s win over Newcastle and the remainder applying to Saturday’s Premier League game against Southampton.

What did Slot and Hulshoff say to Oliver at Goodison Park?

On Tuesday afternoon, an FA spokesperson published in full the written reasons as to why the Liverpool duo – along with both clubs – were hit by sanctions over the events of 12 February.

Their report states that, when Slot first approached Oliver, he told the referee that he ‘gave [Everton] everything’ and sarcastically hoped that the whistler was ‘proud of that performance’.

In a second confrontation approximately a minute later, the Reds boss again shook the official’s hand and said ‘If we don’t win the league, I’ll [expletive] blame you’. It was also alleged that the 46-year-old then turned to the assistant referee and shouted twice that it was a ‘[expletive] disgrace’.

Meanwhile, Hulshoff allegedly said that Oliver’s performance was ‘[two expletives]’ and that he was a ‘[expletive] disgrace’. The report also claimed that Slot’s assistant continued to follow the match official and had to be restrained by Liverpool backroom staff.

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Slot has since apologised for his actions that night

Whilst we don’t condone referees being targeted by abuse from anyone – players, coaches, pundits, fans, etc – it isn’t difficult to understand why Slot and Hulshoff were outraged at the end of the Merseyside derby three weeks ago.

Both Everton goals were shrouded in controversy, with the free kick from which Beto scored being wrongly awarded against Ibrahima Konate, who then had a clear foul on him overlooked by the officials in the lead-up to James Tarkowski’s stoppage-time equaliser.

To the Liverpool head coach’s credit, he later admitted that he ought to have behaved ‘differently’, and that show of contrition now appears to have been significant.

The FA mentioned in its report that it viewed Slot’s subsequent apology as a mitigating factor which contributed towards a standard three-match suspension reduced to two games. Had the larger sanction been imposed, he’d have been banned from the touchline for the Carabao Cup final.

He and Hulshoff are both mature enough to accept the consequences of their actions at Goodison Park, and hopefully they can swiftly move on from the matter for good once they’ve finished serving their respective sentences.

As for Oliver – who’s again been in the headlines for somehow failing to send off Millwall’s Liam Roberts for a head-high challenge on Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta on Saturday before referral to VAR – we hope that he and his refereeing colleagues will learn from their own controversial actions in order to improve the standards of officiating in this country.