'We were not perfect': Arne Slot has one criticism for Liverpool after 2-0 win vs Manchester City
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Arne Slot made it 18 wins from 20 games as Liverpool manager after beating Manchester City 2-0 at Anfield.
The Dutch coach continued his historic start with the Reds with one of his best results yet since moving to Anfield, with Liverpool extending their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points with City now 11 points behind the Merseyside giants.
Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
1 | LiverpoolLiverpool | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 8 | 18 | 34 |
2 | ArsenalArsenal | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 14 | 12 | 25 |
3 | ChelseaChelsea | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 14 | 12 | 25 |
4 | BrightonBrighton | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
With Phil Foden saying Slot’s Liverpool are ‘frightening’ to play against, the Premier League leaders once again showed why they’re the clear favourites for the title this season under their new Dutch manager.
Yet Slot has pointed out why Liverpool’s win against City wasn’t as perfect as many are saying it is.
Slot says Liverpool could have created better chances
Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, the former Feyenoord manager highlighted that Liverpool could have created better chances, with Slot noting that the Reds should not have had to rely on Cody Gakpo’s tap-in and Mohamed Salah’s penalty to beat City.
Indeed, Pep Guardiola hailed Liverpool as ‘unstoppable’ on their way to beating City at Anfield, yet for Slot, the performance wasn’t the perfect display that his rival manager is claiming after the full-time whistle.
Slot said: “If you want to beat City you have to be good at every part of your game. You have to defend in a high press and a low block. You have to be good every time you bring a ball out from the back. Everything should be close to perfection if you want to beat a team like City.
“We were not perfect but we came quite close. What was not perfect was the chances we needed to get a lead with two goals. Although if you play City you are still not safe if you have a two-goal lead, but it's more comfortable than a lead with one goal.”
Liverpool can go one step beyond their performance vs City
With City restricted to just two shots on target and Liverpool looking deadly whenever they came forward, there’s a good reason why Slot believes the Reds can go one step beyond what they did on Sunday at Anfield.
Both of Liverpool’s goals were quite fortuitous given how they ended up being scored, and with Gary Neville noting that Salah looked angry after missing a golden chance to score again in the match, the Merseyside giants could have done more to damage City.
With better chance creation and finishing, Liverpool could have left a historic mark on City’s record at Anfield, yet Slot acknowledging what could have been better is a good sign of what improvements could be made in upcoming games.