Arne Slot will have been delighted to win his first competitive game in charge of Liverpool, but the Reds’ new head coach wasn’t getting carried away with the result that his team earned away to Ipswich.
The visitors prevailed 2-0 at Portman Road but were made to work hard for the three points, having been well below-par in the opening 45 minutes before improving considerably in the second half.
The Dutchman spoke to TNT Sports shortly after the final whistle in East Anglia, and his post-match verdict was quite candid for a man who’d just seen his side pick up an important victory.
When asked how satisfied he was with the result, Slot answered: “It depends on which half! [In the first half] we couldn’t find the rhythm and we couldn’t find the balls in behind. The second half was a joy to watch.”
The 45-year-old continued: “The first thing I said [at half-time] was that we don’t have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels, and that’s what we did. Many of us lost too many duels.
“I didn’t see them fighting for it in the first half. We lost almost every long ball and every duel to both sides. Our problem in the first half was that we lost too many duels. Our defenders lost too many and our attackers didn’t win enough.”
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The statistics back up Slot’s disappointment about the loss of duels in the first half, with Ipswich coming out on top in 58% of individual battles prior to the interval and winning 25 out of the 39 ground duels which were contested (Sofascore).
The Reds improved considerably in that regard after half-time as they swung it 55% in their favour, and that improvement characterised the difference in performance levels either side of the break.
While Slot will no doubt be pleased to get off to a winning start, he hasn’t taken long to hammer home the standards that he expects from Liverpool, and he won’t be afraid to call it out publicly if he feels that his team drop short of his demands.
You can view Slot’s post-match verdict in full below, via @footballontnt on X:
"The second half was a joy to watch"
Arne Slot reflects on his Liverpool side's first Premier League game of the season 🙌
🎙️ @lynseyhipgrave1 | @petercrouch pic.twitter.com/2cb9WVk8yY
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 17, 2024