Arne Slot has said it hurts his principles as an attacking coach to hear his Liverpool team described as boring but he could not entirely disagree on current form.
Liverpool have stabilised after a damaging sequence of nine defeats in 12 matches, the club’s worst return in 71 years, with a nine-game unbeaten run but are struggling to produce convincing performances. Successive draws against Fulham and Leeds have prompted further criticism of Slot’s style and resulted in the champions falling 14 points behind the leaders, Arsenal, who they face at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
The Liverpool head coach admits being stung by accusations his team’s approach is dull. “I find it really hard to hear but I would not completely disagree,” said Slot, who could be without Hugo Ekitiké for a second successive game. “I would use different words and I would take certain things into account. I want to win as many trophies as I can but I think I am also known for the fact that my teams always try to play attacking football and I can only say they’re trying to do so.
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“We are struggling to create a lot of chances. But I’ve said many times, we are not the only team that struggles to create a lot of chances. I don’t like to hear this [boring label] of course. I would like us winning a lot of games but also playing an attractive style of football which we have done this season. We have to find a way against teams [who play] in not an attractive way, which is, of course, maybe even smart for them to do. We have to find answers to that. We haven’t found enough yet but we are working on that every single day to improve that.”
Slot insists recent team selections have been born of necessity with Ekitiké joining Alexander Isak on the sidelines owing to a minor hamstring issue, Cody Gakpo returning from injury and Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Packing the team with midfielders is not something I am doing by choice,” he said. “I am doing it because certain players are not available. I have always played with wingers and I have always changed my wingers with new wingers coming in. If I am known for one thing then it is attacking football, playing a lot of attackers and bringing a lot of attackers in when we are a goal down. So I find it hard to hear that we play boring football let alone that I am not playing attackers.”
The Dutch coach admits he had to stabilise Liverpool after conceding 10 goals in three consecutive losses to Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and PSV before the unbeaten run. But Slot, who dropped Salah after the PSV home defeat, insists stability has not been founded on defensive football.
“I agree that [steadying the ship] was the first thing that needed to happen but I didn’t do that to play defensive football,” he said. “I think that is the misconception. We always pressed the other team as high as we can up the pitch, all over the pitch. And when we have the ball, we try to create as many chances as we can. Everyone can see that we don’t create enough chances but I haven’t gone to a style of football where I started to play five at the back or we started to go all defending our own box. Not at all.
“I did not change our style but teams have changed their style against us. My football is Liverpool v Paris Saint Germain. That is how I would love to have every single game but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things [long balls and low blocks] that don’t make a game of football nice.”
Slot would not be drawn on whether Liverpool plan a renewed bid for Crystal Palace’s captain, Marc Guéhi, who is of interest to Manchester City, or whether Harvey Elliott could return from an unsuccessful loan to Aston Villa. Liverpool do not have a recall option on Elliott, who joined Villa on a season’s loan with an obligation to buy for £35m providing he played 10 league games.
“I am really happy with the squad we have,” Slot said. “All the decisions made last summer and the summer before are completely aligned with me, Richard [Hughes, sporting director] and the ownership. This season has shown how talented this group is and if everyone is available how good a team we can be. This club is in a very good place if everyone is available, and we are getting stronger and stronger for the short-term future but definitely also for the mid-to-long-term future.”
