'Very, very good' – Arne Slot reserves special praise for Manchester United duo after Liverpool draw

01/05/2025 04:27 PM

Arne Slot picked out Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot for special praise after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United and admitted the visitors caused his side real ‘problems’ at Anfield.

The points were shared after a thrilling Premier League contest between two of England’s biggest rivals, though Liverpool were perhaps fortunate after Harry Maguire squandered a huge chance to seal United an unlikely victory at the death.

At the start of a breathless second half, Lisandro Martinez sent United’s away support into raptures with an emphatic strike past Alisson, only for Cody Gakpo to equalise with a splendid effort of his own.

The hosts appeared en course for victory as Mohamed Salah made no mistake from the penalty spot on Merseyside, only for Amad Diallo to make it all square again with ten minutes of normal time remaining.

Facing the media shortly after the final whistle, Amorim bemoaned United’s lack of consistency but was understandably pleased with his side’s spirited display, which ended a miserable run of four straight defeats in all competitions.

Slot, meanwhile, was ‘relieved’ to see Maguire’s late effort sail over the crossbar in stoppage time, though felt Liverpool were ultimately the better team over the ‘whole course of the game’.

‘Especially because they got a big chance just before the end, we also feel a bit relieved. But that might not be the story of the game in my opinion,’ the Liverpool head coach told Sky Sports.

‘Over the whole course of the game, we created much more chances than them.

‘But being 1-0 down and then 2-1 up and conceding such a big chance near the end makes it feel like maybe a point is something to take.

‘But I think if I look back at it tomorrow, I would have hoped for more.’

On the suggestion Martinez’s strike sparked Liverpool into life, Slot replied: ‘Ah, I’m not so sure about that.

‘If you watched the game back tomorrow you would see that in the first 20 to 25 minutes we had three very good chances, open chances, really well played.

‘But we played against very good individuals, very good players, I’ve said it many times now and I think you could see it again today.

‘It’s also a chance for them, against us, to show themselves against us, more than against Wolves at home or other games, so now they can compete with the best players in the league.’

Asked whether United carried much of their threat down the right flank, Slot responded: ‘Yeah, I think they did and that’s also to do with Bruno Fernandes who is a very, very good player.

‘He played a very good game today as well and they’ve shown many times, United, that when things are really difficult, they can show up. The FA Cup final against Manchester City.

‘They did cause us some problems… Dalot was a threat as well on the left side.

‘We are talking about two starters of the Portugal national team so that’s why it’s not always easy to prevent them from getting in dangerous situations.

‘This happened a few times today and, unfortunately, that led to two goals.’

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