Arne Slot defends Liverpool approach and makes transfer statement - 'I'm almost annoyed'

Arne Slot

Arne Slot has dismissed criticism of Liverpool's approach to games as he reiterated there will be no change to the club's transfer policy this summer.

Slot's side have had a propensity for starting games slowly this season and have scored only three first-half goals away in the top-flight this season.

They only began to create regular opportunities at Molineux once they went behind in the 78th minute, but still lost despite Mohamed Salah's equaliser five minutes later after the game became massively stretched.

Slot bristled when asked why Liverpool couldn't have taken a more attack-based approach from the first whistle.

Slot

"It's not the perfect word to use because it's not what I feel, but I'm almost annoyed if you say 'that approach' because the approach is no different,"

“The approach is we want to have the ball as much as possible and want to have it back as soon as possible.

"We always press high and when we have the ball we try to attack. In the final part when we have the ball in the same position, it leads to chances that didn't happen in the first half or first 80 minutes.

"That's not down to approach, we don't approach the game by saying in the first 70 minutes we don't want the ball and we don't want to attack.

“We do. That it doesn't lead to anything, that we can agree on. That might also be due to the fact the opponent is fitter at the start of the game compared to the end.

“They maybe became a bit more defensive because they were 1-0 up and gave us even more space, or there is more urgency from us."

Slot added: "But it's never the approach. We always start the game in the same way and we play it in the same way. That there's a difference in the last 10 minutes in terms of chance creation compared to the first 80, that is clear. There's no difference in the approach.

"If you mean I approach it like 'let's stay calm and let's wait, wait'. No, no. Attack as much as you can. That's what you see in the game.

“We bring enough players forward but that we're not able to create a lot of chances with all the ball possession is not something new to me. That has happened throughout the whole season."

Liverpool return to Wolves on Friday in their FA Cup fifth round clash with Slot's rotation options limited. Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez and Rio Ngumoha are all pressing for a start, while Florian Wirtz could return on the bench after missing the last three games.

The Reds remain without Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni, but Slot maintains he was pleased with the players that were brought in during the squad overhaul last year.

Slot

“I'm so happy with what we did last summer," he said. "We signed such great players but some of them needed some time to adapt and some of them have mainly been injured.

"Adaptation you can predict because that's what we knew, but that some signings and some others got some long-term injuries isn't something you can predict.

"It's the model that we don't have 25 players over here. We have a different model over here. Then it hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries at the moment.

“I always knew when I came in here that this was the model and I'm really happy with that."

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