Liverpool's Arne Slot says Premier League referees are testing his patience | Liverpool

Arne Slot has said he must reflect on the behavior on the wing that has led to three yellow cards this season, but admitted first division The referees are breaking their limits.

The Liverpool manager will serve a one-match suspension in the Carabao Cup quarter-final in Southampton after receiving his third yellow card, on Saturday against Fulham. Slot also saw a yellow card against Chelsea and Arsenal, the latter following a mix-up with the fourth official, who thought he was saying bad words to him and not to Ibrahima Konaté.

Slot, 46, is usually calm in the technical area, but admits that his first season with English referees has been a difficult experience.

“You always reflect, but I think overall I'm calm,” said Slot, who also has Andy Robertson suspended for Wednesday's tie. “I don't know if it's smart to say this but there's also a limit for me, let's put it that way, and then I can get excited. Unfortunately, that limit is only reached by referee decisions or the decisions made by my players. In my opinion, for my team they make better decisions than the referees.

“In this game (Fulham) a lot of controversial decisions were made and then if you go down to 10 men that works even more. “The Chelsea game and this game were emotional and maybe I should have stayed just below (the line) instead of going over it.”

The slot erupted on Saturday when referee Tony Harrington penalized Curtis Jones for a foul on Alex Iwobi. He was also booked by John Brooks for protesting against the decision to overturn a penalty awarded in Liverpool's victory against Chelsea.

“The mistake I've made already twice here, and once or twice in Holland, is thinking that creating an atmosphere where everyone is against you can lead to some positive decisions at the end of the game,” Slot said. “But in the game against Chelsea and the game against Fulham it stayed the same for the 90 minutes. It wasn't that after trying to influence things a little bit, the referee suddenly gave us one or two free kicks. No, he kept the whole game the same. I know it doesn't work, but sometimes you think, 'Can I influence that a little bit?' But it didn't help at all.”

Robertson's natural replacement at left back, Kostas Tsimikas, returned to training on Tuesday following an ankle injury. Should the Greek international miss a game without a coach? SouthamptonSlot could be forced to turn to academy graduates such as James Norris, 21, and Amara Nallo, 18. Diogo Jota will not be fit to start after feeling a reaction to his comeback goal-scoring win against Fulham, but Federico Chiesa could appear after a long absence.

“We only have four defenders available and probably the ones who have started a lot won't play the full 90 minutes or maybe not even at all,” Slot said.

“It will be academy players who will get playing time or players who no one would expect to see on the back row who will play on the back row tomorrow.”