Arne Slot has admitted that few managers openly admit that he is indeed trying to 'influence' referees.
The Liverpool boss will serve a touchline ban for their trip to Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday after collecting three yellow cards.
Slot received a yellow card on Saturday for reacting in frustration to Curtis Jones' yellow card in the 2-2 draw against Fulham.
Now he has revealed he thinks he made 'mistakes' trying to get into the heads of the referees, but insisted it all came from a genuine passion.
“You're always thinking, but I think I'm generally calm,” he began.
'I don't know if it's smart to say this, but for me there is also a limit, let's put it this way. And then I can get emotional, and unfortunately that limit is only reached by refereeing decisions or the decisions my players make.
'In my opinion, they make more good decisions than the referees for my team! The Chelsea game [a 2-1 win on October 22] was emotional. We should have had a second penalty but VAR changed it and a lot of controversial decisions were made.
'If you only have ten men, that becomes even more difficult [on you]. The games against Chelsea and Fulham were emotional and maybe I should have stayed just under it instead of going over it.
'You try to exert as much influence as possible. The mistake I've made twice here, and once or twice in the Netherlands, is that sometimes you think that creating an atmosphere that the whole world is against can lead to positive decisions at the end of the game.
'But here, so far, in the game against Chelsea and Fulham, it remained the same for 90 minutes. It wasn't that after I tried to influence things a little bit, the referee suddenly gave us one or two free kicks.
'No, he kept it the same the whole game. I know it doesn't work, but sometimes you think: 'Can I influence that a little bit?' But it didn't help at all.'
Slot's attitude on the sidelines is generally much less grumpy than that of some other 'Big Six' managers.
His predecessor Jurgen Klopp was known for being particularly vocal with the fourth official, while Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho have never been afraid to speak up.
Slot will have to take a seat in the stands of the St Mary's Stadium, while first assistant coach Sipke Hulshoff will probably play the role of sideline mediator.
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