Slot Talk: “This Is The Way I Would Like To See Us Play An Away Game”
Head coach Arne Slot gave his version of effusive praise for the victory over West Ham and his five goal scorers.
Liverpool’s last match of 2024 was a barn-burner victory in east London when they visited West Ham. Five goals, each from a different goal scorer, putting the Reds at 8 points clear at the top of table, and a clean sheet to boot. What a way to send off a mixed bag of a year.
Head coach Arne Slot, a usually straightforward and dry guy as we’ve come to know him, expressed his delight in the way only he can in his post match presser, starting off with praise for his goalscorers.
“I like to see this because if you only rely on one player when it comes to goals that is mostly not really helpful, although it’s also nice to have one that scores a lot,” Slot said following the match.
“But then to see that others score goals and threatening the other goal as well is pleasing to see. It’s not only the one that scores the goal, I think the lead-up towards the goal is also very positive from our point of view.”
Sure, five goals are great, and it’s hard for any team to come back from that kind of a beating, but defense is still necessary. Slot was happy to point out that it was more of a complete performance, even if the goals will get most of the credit.
“[This is] the way I would like to see us play an away game. I think it’s always, especially in the Premier League, the defence come with a lot,” the coach continued.
“There’s a lot of fans in every stadium we play. The stadium is always sold out if Liverpool comes. They don’t need much to cheer for if Liverpool comes in because if they already have an attack, or a corner kick, the fans are already cheering, so then you have to kill that momentum as much as you can and not give away anything.
“I think there was only two, three or four minutes where Curtis [Jones] lost the ball, Mo lost the ball and then we conceded a corner, which probably wasn’t a corner, where the fans were a bit behind West Ham. For the rest, I think because we were so dominant we could manage West Ham but also the crowd.”
Adding goals has definitely been a noticed change throughout this first half of the season. With early results coming from 1 or 2 goals, the ease with which the team is playing now - and scoring - has given the feeling that a new level has been unlocked under Slot. The players are rejuvenated, and some like Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch have found new and more consistent places in the squad.
“Maybe we are a bit better, but it’s not like we’ve increased enormously. What we did increase is scoring goals. There were games were we could’ve scored many more goals, but we didn’t because we missed a few chances,” Slot explained.
“Even today I think it was at half-time 3-0, but after 10 or 15 minutes we could’ve scored three easily with the quality we have. The good thing is that in the last weeks when the opponent had a chance it was a goal. Today they hit the bar and the post, so that is a positive to take.
“It’s normal in a season sometimes you miss chances and sometimes in a period of time the other team gets a chance and scores. Then sometimes they need two, three or four and don’t score. That is what a season brings as well. It’s good for us that we, maybe for the first time, although maybe Tottenham 6-3 stands out as well, but that we have a win which was throughout the whole game quite clear that we would win this game, because many others it was tight until the end.”
Liverpool now have a whole week to rest and recuperate before hosting Manchester United and their own new manager on Sunday January 5th to continue their title charge.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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