Arne Slot hails Anfield atmosphere after comeback win over Brighton

Arne Slot hailed the ‘incredible’ Anfield atmosphere after his Liverpool side came from behind to win against Brighton and go top of the Premier League.

‘Our fans were incredible in the second half. Incredible. The players were as well, but the fans, that was the loudest since I came here,’ Slot said. ‘That definitely has an influence on our players – and the result.’

The Liverpool boss admitted his team were poor in the first half and that he let his players know that at the break, when they were trailing to Ferdi Kadioglu’s opener.

‘I said a few things at half-time but I was not screaming or fuming around — I made sure the players knew this was not enough,’ said Slot, who added that every Liverpool player deserved to be taken off at half-time.

‘This is a win you need in a season where you want to be competitive, because you cannot always be from the first until the last second the best team on the pitch. 

‘I didn’t ask them to score two goals – I only asked them to play a different second half than we played against Nottingham Forest, with a different mentality – so if things go against you, you have to show up. Winners always do, and fortunately we have a lot of winners in our team that showed up in the second half,’ added Slot.

Asked whether he saw an opportunity opening up for Liverpool at the top with both Arsenal and Manchester City losing, the Dutchman said: ‘No, not because of the fact that they lost. But what I do like a lot is that last week – two times we came one goal behind against Arsenal, 1-0 and 2-1, and two times we were able to fight ourselves back into the game. 

‘And in this game we were 1-0 down at half-time, which I think we deserved, and then to come back so strong against such a quality team. The way we did gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.’

Slot also praised Joe Gomez, who came on after Ibrahima Konate went off injured at half-time.

‘That says a lot about his mentality. That also says a lot about his quality, if you don’t play that much and you come on in a game where your teammates were outplayed for 45 minutes, that you can come in and play like this. 

‘It also says a lot about his mentality in recent weeks and months, where he didn’t play that much, but he is now able without playing a lot to play 90 minutes on Wednesday and to bring in a performance like this. 

‘But this is what people told me when I came in: Joe is a top, top, top professional who always, no matter what position he is in, gives his best for the team and for himself in the end as well. He got the reward for it because I think the fans loved what they saw – I definitely did.’

Meanwhile Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler stressed that his sides ‘performance was good enough to win the game easily’ but admitted that his players failed to deal with the Anfield atmosphere, with Liverpool scoring two goals in three second-half minutes through Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah.

‘The performance was easily good enough to win this game, especially the first half. We got a little bit attracted by the atmosphere and these things are important for the results,’ Hurzeler said. 

‘I will have to call Jurgen Klopp and ask him how to cope with the atmosphere. I had only experienced it on TV before. It was loud, wild, but you have to stay calm. In the second half we couldn’t find solutions and the dominance of Liverpool grew bigger.’