The fallout of a loss to Manchester United is never pleasant, but Arne Slot is arguably making things worse with a claim about Liverpool that doesn’t make sense.
The outcome of Saturday’s match was determined by one team starting well, and another failing to find a rhythm until after the interval. United went up 2-0, before Liverpool mounted a comeback to square things before the hour mark.
At that point, the game was in the balance. While that may be true, it doesn’t quite justify Slot in his assumption that nobody expected Liverpool to lose after that.
Which Liverpool player was most to blame for defeat against Manchester United?
Arne Slot thinks Liverpool were favourites to win at 2-2
Slot isn’t basing his post-match take on any sort of logic or historical evidence. He thinks Liverpool losing late is somehow a surprise.
He told Sky Sports after the game: “Yeah I don’t think anyone expected us to lose that game after a 2-2. Or maybe you do after the whole of our season. As I’ve shown so many times this season, when we are playing well or we think we are able to win it, we switch off.”
Right the second time. Nobody will have been surprised to see Liverpool handed a late blow in a Premier League game.
Liverpool have been conceding late all season, and especially since the turn of the new year. There was a stretch where that was the norm, week in week out. I don’t think many Liverpool fans in Old Trafford or watching on the television were feeling confident about going on to win.
Switching off is a problem with no obvious fixes, but it didn’t happen with anywhere close to this frequency under Jurgen Klopp.
Arne Slot acknowledges the recurring issues at Liverpool
That was a confusing take, but Slot also touched on things his team need to work on.
He remarked: “The margins are not so big on us being able to win a game like this, I know what we can improve on and we are already working hard on this.
“The same issues keep coming back which is not a huge surprise as you don’t have long to fix it during the season. Tactically you can change certain things but for me it is clear where we have to improve and we will.”
Did anyone else deserve a 3/10 alongside Mac Allister?
Second-half display saved some from MUCH worse ratings
Just three games in which to iron out the kinks and figure out what to work on in the summer. Spoiler, it’s a lot.
- READ MORE: Jamie Carragher explains why Liverpool’s ‘soft and weak’ display vs Man United is on Arne Slot
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
