Angry Arne Slot breaks silence on Liverpool controversy and points finger for Man Utd loss

Liverpool boss Arne Slot refused to offer his players 'excuses' despite Michael Oliver's controversial decision not to halt play for a head injury in the build-up to Manchester United's opener during their thrilling 2-1 triumph at Anfield. United grabbed a shock lead within 63 seconds, as Bryan Mbeumo found the net.

However, Liverpool were incensed that Oliver hadn't sounded his whistle, as Alexis Mac Allister was sprawled on the ground after taking a knock to the back of his head in a collision with his own teammate, Virgil van Dijk. Oliver didn't seem to notice the Liverpool star clutching his head on the pitch, permitting play to carry on.

The Premier League Match Centre clarified that because Van Dijk made contact with Mac Allister, it couldn't have been awarded as a foul and VAR were powerless to step in.

It was, consequently, left to Oliver's interpretation of the situation.

After the match, Slot was questioned about his thoughts on both the goal and a penalty appeal for handball in the opening half that was dismissed by the official.

But the Reds manager chose to concentrate on his players' disappointing display, as Liverpool endured their fourth straight loss.

"If you lose a game of football, especially after you have lost four, maybe you should have the emotion in the game," Slot responded.

"But I should not talk about that in that moment of time. No excuses.

"We've had more than enough chances to score a goal when we didn't need that penalty. Yes or no. I don't want to talk about that. We had so many chances, we need to score more. And if you are 1-1 and the game is completely there for you and you have to defend one set piece, then we have to defend it better than we did.

"This is something we have to work on. And there's emotion in the game about decisions. Every manager has this. But I will not talk about this."

Van Dijk said of the incident: "I think the ball went long, first header was a United player, second by me. My elbow hit the player and he goes down and I went down. That angle it was difficult to score and he did. There was plenty of football left to be played [and score] and we didn't.

"We need to stay humble and stay working and keep our confidence as high as possible. When things get tough, it is important we keep the mentality of being there for each other. It is a long season."