As Arne Slot’s tenure at Liverpool continues to flourish, the head coach has shed light on the key factors behind the Reds’ exceptional defensive record. So far, Liverpool have kept an impressive seven clean sheets in 12 games, conceding just five goals – a stark contrast to their Premier League counterparts.
Slot attributes their defensive prowess to the team’s ability to dominate possession, as well as the quality of players at his disposal. “There are two reasons why we don’t concede a lot,” he stated. “One of them is that we – most games, almost all of them, maybe except for one – we dominated and controlled for large parts of the game. So it helps if you dominate, if you have the ball.”
The tactician also highlighted the importance of work rate, citing the team’s “incredible” work rate in difficult periods of games. “That is something that’s very important,” he emphasized. “If you combine that with having the likes of Virgil and Ibou and the two goalkeepers we’ve used until now, that is probably one of the reasons why we haven’t conceded that much.”
When it comes to the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ibou Ka. Konate, Slot believes they are key components of the team’s strong defensive record. “I think we’re in a good place when it comes to centre-backs – and the goalkeeper speaks for itself, I think,” he said.
Despite Liverpool’s impressive defensive record, they have won each of their last three games by a single goal. When asked if this could be a concern, Slot disagreed. “I think every game has its own story,” he said. “The Leipzig game, I said about the difference in the period of rest we had in between the games… I don’t know if it had anything to do with it, but it could.”
The Liverpool boss was also keen to stress the importance of set-pieces, citing instances where his team has struggled to deal with them. “I think when I look at the Crystal Palace game it was one or two transition moments where we were still dominating the game but we were a bit unlucky or we didn’t have a good enough rest defence – combined with some set-pieces,” he explained.
