'How on earth?' - Arne Slot responds to Tottenham talk as Liverpool boss identifies quiet problem

If slow starts have been a problem in games for Liverpool of late, it's an assessment that Arne Slot himself says he agrees with.

The Reds boss was at pains to pick through the bones of last week's 2-2 draw with Fulham to try and understand exactly why his team began sluggishly before being forced to respond

The issue has been a consistent one for the Reds this term

Despite that, though, Slot's team have tended to find their joy towards the back end of matches, with 33 of their 54 goals across all competitions coming in the second half

Asked if he felt his team ate starting slowly in general right now, Slot said on Friday:

"[Your point is] interesting because my feeling was the same. When I watched it back against Fulham, I felt the same, it was a slow start.”

"It doesn't help that in many home games, some players get a knock and there is a treatment for 90 seconds and there's a rule in this country that the players has to be out for 45 seconds or one minute, however long it is, before coming back on, so that doesn't help build momentum.

"Against City and Real Madrid, we had quite the good start, so when I looked back at the Fulham game, the first 10 minutes were really good.

“We threatened them two or three times. The linesman raised flags that were not offside, it's not a big thing but doesn't help to create momentum.

"We had a shot from Curtis Jones, we should have had a corner and they gave a goal kick.

“So I think we started quite well but if you simply look at goals, then we didn't score and conceded one.

"And then the red card after 17 minutes, which is difficult because it was a vital moment but if you look at the other 40, I liked what I saw, there was intensity,”

“we were on top of them and trying to get into the box but for the reasons I gave the momentum wasn't there like Man City or Real Madrid."