Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been criticised for revealing one of his team’s biggest struggles following Wednesday’s 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Champions League victory saw Liverpool return to winning ways after a dismal run of four consecutive defeats across all competitions, with their most recent setback coming at the hands of bitter rivals Manchester United last weekend.
With star man Mohamed Salah named on the bench, Liverpool cruised to victory thanks to goals from five separate scorers — with Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai all finding the target after Rasmus Kristensen’s opening goal for the hosts.
Wednesday night, which brought Liverpool’s most convincing performance of the season by a distance, was the first time since the Premier League’s opening day that they won a match by more than a single goal.
Since beating Southampton in the Carabao Cup third round last month, the reigning Premier League champions lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace, 1-0 to Galatasaray, 2-1 to Chelsea and 2-1 to Manchester United, struggling immensely after splashing out over £450million in the summer.
Slot, perhaps still hurting from the four-match losing streak, gave up plenty of tactical information as he explained why his team were able to steamroll the Bundesliga club.
‘The biggest exception for me was the playing style of our opponent,’ Slot said.
‘We got some energy out of the moments we could press them — in the last four of five games we’ve played we were not able to press the opponent, because the ball wasn’t on the ground. It was through the air.’
Slot’s remark was likely in reference to the styles of play adopted by both Chelsea and Manchester United, who punished Liverpool with long balls and a direct tactical approach.
Former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys blasted Slot for his forthright manner in the press conference.
‘Slot “the difference tonight to the way we had to play in our last 4 games is the ball was on the floor”. What a daft thing to say,’ Keys said in a post on X.
‘Now everybody knows how to beat Liverpool – long balls. They don’t fancy a scrap.’
Meanwhile, many Liverpool fans reacted in horror as Slot willingly handed over his side’s tactical flaws ahead of Saturday’s trip to Brentford.
‘Yeah Arne, it’ll be back in the air on Saturday night,’ one fan wrote, finishing his post with a worried emoji.
A second said: ‘Isn’t this giving the opponent ammo against you? Now they know playing against your team you’d want ball on the ground so they’ll opt for long balls instead.. I don’t think he thought this through.’
Another added: ‘Brentford next Arne, brace up for NBA football.’
Liverpool sit third in the Premier League table after five wins and three losses from eight matches, behind four points behind leaders Arsenal and one adrift of Manchester City.
Brentford, who are 13th, are in a solid vein of form after two wins from their last three games, having beaten Manchester United 3-1 and West Ham 2-0 over the last couple of weeks.
