Arne Slot On Imperfect "Incredible Display" and Beating Tottenham 6-3
Yesterday at 02:01 PM
When you concede three you haven't had a perfect game, but Arne Slot was mostly thrilled at how his Liverpool side took the game to Spurs on Sunday.
Liverpool head into Christmas top of the Premier League and Champions League tables after the latest round of results saw top chasers Chelsea drop points at Everton while the Reds swept aside a reckless Tottenham side in a 6-3 thriller that wasn't as close as the final scoreline.
Conceding three times to Spurs involved a touch of poor fortune for the Reds given they held their opponents to around 1.5xG while creating nearly 5xG worth of their own chances, but even the chances they did were higher than manager Arne Slot would have preferred and as he saw it down to his players taking their foot off the gas.
"Until 60, 65 minutes, I really, really enjoyed what I saw," Slot said after Sunday's London road trip. "Of course, we were caught one time in bringing the ball out from the back, but I was quite happy that we then scored the 3-1, then 4-1, and 5-1.
"An incredible display but then you also saw no matter how much quality the players have, if they think they don't have to run any more then in this league, especially against Tottenham because they are so good as well, they immediately start to create and that's what they did and then they scored two more goals."
A sixth for Liverpool would settle any late nerves following Spurs' attempted fightback as the Reds hit their flowing best in attack with the entire front four—including a pair of false nines in midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai and usual winger Luis Diaz along with Cody Gakpo on the left and Mohamed Salah on the right—taking turns to shine.
Next up, the Reds host Leicester City on Boxing Day, welcoming a side two points clear of the relegation places to Anfield. Then, a trip to West ham on December 29th rounds out the month and the calendar year for this season's unexpected title favourites.
"You always prefer to be where we are," Slot added of his side's league standing. "You know just as well as I how hard it is to win the league. You have to keep on going and keep going. Every three days you have to be on top of your game for every minute. That's why it is so hard. It's not easy to show up every three days.
"At Newcastle, at 3-2 up you expect to win and then we drop points. That's the Premier League. I didn't expect Chelsea to drop points today as well, so it can happen every game. That's what makes this league so special. That's why so many people want to see it and that's why we play at Christmas."
