Slot seeking new ways to stop opposition as Liverpool aim to bounce back

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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes he benefited from the aura of Jurgen Klopp in his first season, but knows the situation has changed now that they are the defending Premier League champions.

Slot believes opponents felt they could capitalise on his first season, coming from the Eredivisie to manage in England for the first time and succeeding the highly successful German, and were keen to exploit a perceived weakness.

However, that played into Liverpool’s hands as a squad which – apart from the hardly used Federico Chiesa – had been founded on Klopp’s methods took advantage of more attacking opposition to establish a solid lead and then go on to win the title.

Slot noticed a change in the approach towards them midway through last season, but by then it was virtually too late to reel them in.

However, in this campaign, no team is coming to attack them and they are being picked off on the counter-attack or when making individual errors.

Even five successive victories from the off were far from comfortable, and two defeats in four days has shown Slot that they need to find other ways of managing opponents.

“The first part of last season, Jurgen gave me a lot of gifts but one of the gifts he also gave me was ending up third the year before and fifth the year before that, and him being so well known that a new manager came in and everyone thought ‘Oh, let’s start to play against Liverpool’,” said the Dutchman.

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“Teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league after half of the season and top of the Champions League after the first part of the season.

“I can see this now going into this part of this season and we have to find answers to that.

“Last season, one of them was a set-piece, like many teams unlock a low block with set-pieces, and this season we haven’t done that yet.”

Either way, opposing manager Enzo Maresca does not believe now is a good time to play Liverpool, despite the Reds losing their last two matches in all competitions ahead of their trip south to Stamford Bridge, where the visitors have not won on any of their last four trips.

“It is always a tough game, always a big team,” the Italian said. “The way they are doing this season is in any case, fantastic, especially after the [Diogo] Jota tragedy.

“I lived the exact same when I was a player 20 years ago, it is not easy for the players or manager. You have to be very strong. This is the reason why for me they are doing, not good, but better than good because dealing with a problem like this is not easy.

“I consider them the best team in England at the moment because they have shown that and they won the Premier League.”

Individual errors have recently been costly in more ways than one for Liverpool, with a mistake by Ibrahima Konate against Galatasaray in midweek leading to goalkeeper Alisson Becker sustaining a hamstring injury.

The Brazil international will be out for a number of weeks, but Slot would not commit to a timeframe beyond the match at home to Manchester United on October 19.

“Alisson is not a part of the squad tomorrow [Saturday] and he is not going to travel to Brazil for the national team,” said Slot ahead of the trip to Chelsea.

“It depends on how fast a recovery goes. It’s clear he’s not going to play for Brazil. I would be surprised if he will be there for the first game after the international break.

“From then, things can go a bit faster or slower. It’s always difficult to say the amount of games and weeks.”

It means that summer arrival Giorgi Mamardashvili will make his Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge.

“We knew we were bringing in a very good goalkeeper, but when he played his first game [against Southampton in the Carabao Cup] that is always the best way to see if he has adjusted well or not, and you saw in that game that he has adjusted well to our club,” said Slot.

“That is not a surprise because he is a quality goalkeeper.”

One player who will definitely feature in the capital is British-record signing Alexander Isak, with Slot saying the Sweden striker – who has scored just once since moving to Anfield – still needs time adjusting to his new team-mates.

“I said to him when he started that the difficult thing is you will have your appearances, but if you add minutes together it probably won’t be more than two or three 90-minute games,” he said.

“That’s what we inherited from his situation with not being in the team at Newcastle. So we knew this before so it’s not an excuse.

“He has already scored a goal and is getting fitter and fitter, but the main thing is he has to adjust to his team-mates and they have to adjust to him. The more you play together, the better things will work.

“He had a great counter moment in the Palace game, but the midfield didn’t see it and he had already played the ball to the right. And if he had seen it, he would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper.”

Slot will also be hoping Mohamed Salah is able to recapture the form that saw him crowned PFA and FWA Player of the Year last season, with the Reds boss claiming like the team itself, the forward has also been suffering from a change of opposition tactics this season.

“I see the same as at the end of last season, where he scored 12 goals, five from a penalty and one from a set-piece, so six open-play goals,” he added.

“He is part of a team that faces a different opposition than the first half of last season.

“To make that comparison you can look at when we played Manchester United away last season and they tried to play out from the back and we stole the ball from them three times.

“Compare that to the way United played at Anfield where [Andre] Onana only went long. Then that is one of the answers why it is more difficult to score open-play goals in the second half of last season and first half of this season.”

‘Slot is searching for answers, but there’s a defiance that the best is still to come’

Sky Sports News reporter Vinny O’Connor at the AXA training ground:

“We are trying to find a way that is not about luck or bad luck…..We need to do better and that’s what we’re going to try…..[last season] teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league and top of the Champions League. I can see this happening in this part of this season and we have to find answers to that.”

Telling words from Arne Slot summing up the challenge facing Liverpool after suffering consecutive defeats for only the second time since he replaced Jurgen Klopp.

This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to the way Liverpool’s winning start to the season has ended. If you remember, Slot made the point during their winning start to the season, that he would like greater control in games, especially after needing late goals to secure wins against the likes Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atletico, having surrendered two-goal leads.

This is more of a considered reaction to the questions being asked of them by opposing teams.

Of course, it had been hoped that the money spent in the summer would provide immediate solutions.

Ultimately, that was probably an unrealistic view given Alexander Isak arrived with little or no preseason behind him; the start to Jeremie Frimpong’s Anfield career has been interrupted by the hamstring injury he suffered on the opening day that kept him out for a month; and some signings need time to adjust to the demands being a Liverpool player in the Premier League, which, you could argue, is why we’ve not seen the best of Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez so far.

Add all of that together and it gives a more accurate picture as to why Liverpool haven’t gelled in terms of their levels of performance. Yet, the foundations for success are there. They are top of the league, three points clear with the opportunity to at least consolidate that at Stamford Bridge.

Slot has not lost three on the bounce at Liverpool. Yes, he’s searching for answers, but there’s an underlying defiance that the best is still to come.

This news was originally published on this post .