Arne Slot has claimed Liverpool have much more to offer this season and can become the dominant team he envisaged, although only once their set-piece failings have been eradicated.
Liverpool have stemmed a damaging sequence of nine losses in 12 games – the club’s worst run in 71 years – to climb to fifth in the Premier League, level with fourth-placed Chelsea. But Slot, who admits Liverpool’s position remains below expectations, insists he will not get carried away by an unbeaten run of six matches because the team’s performance level requires big improvement.
“We are in the position we deserve after the first half of the season,” said the Liverpool head coach, who will be without the suspended Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexander Isak, now a long-term absentee, against Wolves on Saturday. “I think we should be higher, let that be clear – I was expecting and hoping for us to be higher in the table – but even in the last six games the difference between us and the other team is constantly too small.
“Now we have been a few times a bit lucky with the result [against Tottenham and Brighton] and we need to find a situation where we are so much better than the other team that luck or bad luck does not influence it any more. I think the games we have lost were unlucky. Referees and set pieces have had an incredible impact on the start of our season, but we should not have that as an excuse. That should not lead to us dropping points. We need to make sure like last season when a lot of decisions went against us as well but it didn’t hurt us.”
Slot is adamant the Premier League champions will improve in the second half of the season. However, he admits Liverpool must rectify problems with set pieces at both ends to make progress. Only Bournemouth (12) have conceded more set-piece goals in the league this season than Liverpool (11), and while Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have all scored 10 set-piece goals in the Premier League, Slot’s team have scored three.
Photograph: Adam Davy/PA
“Players are getting fitter and fitter, not only the ones we brought in but also the ones who missed out in pre-season,” Slot said. “They are getting used to each other. I think the best is still to come for this team.
“If you look at what has happened in the first half [of the season] then I am not so surprised where we are. If you look at our set-piece balance, there is not one team in the world that is minus eight in set pieces and is still joint-fourth in the league. If you find that team please tell me. From open play we are the number-one team in the league for chance creation but I don’t think anyone sees it because I think in general we are criticised a lot. That is true if you simply look at the results, but if you were to exclude the set pieces then the world would look completely different and we would probably be five or six points higher.
“People say: ‘What are you talking about? Set pieces are part of the game.’ Of course it is part of football but it is a different element within the game, you could say. The fundamental is the football itself and set pieces are an add-on. But set pieces have such an immense impact on a football game and also on the league table.”
