Arne Slot Demands “Cool Heads but Not Cool Legs” Against Everton
After Sunday’s shock defeat in the FA Cup the Liverpool manager is demanding a better, more energetic showing against Everton on Wednesday.
Liverpool’s shock defeat to last-place Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle could be described by any number of negatives, many of them starting with the letter’s D and U. Disappointing, underwhelming, disorganized, unfortunate, downright unacceptable.
It’s also now in the past. What matters now going forward is it goes down as a one-off disappointing, underwhelming, disorganized, unfortunate, downright unacceptable defeat, a poor result in the FA Cup Arne Slot’s Reds are now out of and not the sign of a larger stumble reflected in upcoming Premier League performances and results.
“If you’re working at a club like this you should compete for every trophy,” Slot said, speaking of his side’s weekend defeat ahead of a mid-week Premier League match against historic rivals Everton in what’s set to be the final derby at the Blues’ Goodison Park.
“We said this from the start. To lose against Plymouth is of course not acceptable as a team. Our fans as well are disappointed by that result, and now we have to show a different side of us tomorrow, because it wasn’t only the result—the performance was far from what Liverpool standards are as well.”
There can be reasons found. Factors to be called mitigating. A poor pitch. A fully rotated side of players who have seen limited action. Youngsters in the mix. The reality, though, is the side Slot sent out looked more than good enough on paper to get a far better result than what they did; to put in a far better performance than what they did.
It will be interesting, then, to see if any of Sunday’s under-performers, forwards like Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa and Luis Diaz or midfielder Harvey Elliott or left back Kostas Tsimikas, manage any significant involvement against Everton or in the next few games.
What is clear is that whoever it is Slot calls on against Everton next, more energy will be needed. More commitment in the tackle and press will be needed. More focus on the ball, sharper passing with it and better movement to provide options to teammates who have it. All of that will very much be needed.
“Cool heads but not cool legs,” Slot said of what he wants to see from his players against Everton and in reaction to the Plymouth defeat. “Every time you play against a team that wants to fight with you—and that’s almost every time we play but maybe this opponent even more—you have to be ready for that.
“You have to run just as much, have to be just as intense in tackles—not going across the line, but enough to play a good and firm tackle. That’s where it starts, and then nine out of 10 times the game settles down a bit and you can start to think about playing football.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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