'Never dive' - Arne Slot claims Liverpool are 'the most honest' team in the Premier League

Liverpool boss Slot believes his team are too honest at times but he does not want them to change in their bid to retain their Premier League title. The Dutchman added that he sometimes "blamed" his players for not taking a genuine foul when they had the option.

He told reporters: "If there is one team in the league that is, in my opinion, the most honest when we play – I sometimes blame them that they never try to make from a foul a little bit more – and never dives and never time delays and all these kind of things, then it is us. In the (Community Shield) game against Palace they hold Florian (Wirtz) in midfield and he didn’t fall over and the referee says ‘If you don’t fall, I don’t give a free-kick’, which is a little bit weird. Than a fraction later they fell down in a moment which wasn’t even a foul and the referee thought ‘Oh, he fell down so it probably is a foul’. We had much more ball possession than Palace but we made 13 fouls and they made five. That tells you also about who we are."

Despite Slot's claims, Liverpool didn't top the 'fair play' table last season. Manchester City chalked up the fewest yellow cards (56), with Liverpool having the fourth-best record (64) in the Premier League. And for red cards, they received two, which was the joint-second highest in the division. So overall, they were the sixth cleanest team. Incidentally, there is no readily available data that collates the sides that dive the most in the English top-flight, so Slot's assertion is hard to disprove. 

Slot's Liverpool begin their Premier League title defence on Friday at home to Bournemouth, and then on August 25, they travel to Newcastle United - a team they are trying to sign wantaway striker Alexander Isak from.