Arne Slot says Ryan Gravenberch was inspired by the history of AC Milan’s Netherlands legends
the Reds boss also opened up on the differences to his midfield compared to how the engine room operated under former manager Jurgen Klopp.
The in-form Gravenberch continued with a dominant display at the base of the Reds midfield as Slot’s side kicked off the revamped European Cup with a statement performance
Milan have a long and illustrious history of Dutch stars and Slot detailed how Gravenberch was keen to showcase his own talents in one of the most revered venues
Slot:
He took the occasion of playing at a stadium where a lot of Dutch players played unbelievably well (in the past),”
“Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and afterwards someone else (Clarence Seedorf, stood near him) came over here to do the same things as the other three. Ryan played outstanding today but he wasn’t the only one.”
“[The midfield] is a combination of energy and quality on the ball.
I think the most successful team of Liverpool in recent years had three ‘animals’ or ‘dogs’ or however you want to call it, very hard-working players in the midfield.
“These three work very hard in midfield as well and they don’t fight with the ball so it means they are quite comfortable on it.
“That’s what you like to see as we like to press high, be really aggressive in what we try to do, but we also like to play out from the back and create our chances like this. That’s what they did today.”
After Christian Pulisic scored a third-minute opener, Liverpool responded with headed goals from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk
Slot added:
“That was the positive thing [that nobody panicked]. After losing on Saturday, which was quite a blow for us to be honest, to then be 1-0 down after five minutes and they also had a chance that was offside, you are always wondering how the team will react.
“But I think we showed how good we can play on the ball and that’s what I said after the game, if you can play so well, it’s almost – if I used the word disgrace, it’s too much – unbelievable that you can lose to Nottingham Forest at home.
“You always take every game by itself and see how the opponent plays and see how fit the players are.
“I would have planned to play Cody Gakpo on Saturday but he played two times for the Dutch national team and Lucho (Luis Diaz) was more fit.
“Cody did well. But today was more of a team performance than an individual performance although in the end there were some great individuals.”
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