Arne Slot defends Andy Robertson after Liverpool star is sent off after just 17 minutes of Reds' draw with Fulham

The Scottish left-back received a lot of criticism from Liverpool fans after he picked up a red card in the 17th of the match against Fulham on Saturday at Anfield. Robertson tried to intercept a long ball from Andreas Pereira for Harry Wilson. He did succeed at first but a poor first touch almost allowed Wilson to regain possession, however, the Reds star caught the winger on his knee with a nasty challenge which led to his sending off.

Going down to 10 men early in the game had a big impact on the result as the Reds were held to a 2-2 draw. Unlike the fans, Slot defended Robertson and claimed that the defender, along with the entire team, showed a lot of character to pick up a point from the fixture.

Speaking to reporters in his post-match press conference, the Dutch coach said: "I think what the team showed today, the character they showed, that's also what Robbo showed. Sometimes if you get a kick like this, two studs on a knee, that can hurt for a few minutes. Then, if you just keep on running, it gets better and better and that's what we were hoping for.

"Not least because I only had one defender on the bench, who was not a left full-back as well. So, we were hoping he was managing to come through it and I think he did quite well, but the moment I noticed he wasn't completely himself was the one time they put the ball in behind and he started running."

He added: "He was just able to head it back to Ali [Alisson Becker], but I thought, 'OK, let's see how this continues' and I think it was quite quickly afterwards where he conceded the red card. Nothing to blame on him, [it was] character that he wanted to continue because he got quite a hard knock on his knee with two studs. Unfortunately, it led to a red card that was a deserved red card."

The Merseyside club will be next seen in action on Wednesday as they take on Southampton in a Carabao Cup quarter-final clash away from home.