How quickly things change. Following a win over Aston Villa over the weekend, Liverpool FC continued their rediscovery of form with a 1-0 victory against Real Madrid at Anfield in Champions League group stage action. The big build-up of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s return to Anfield and frequent European nemesis Real Madrid amounted to much ado about nothing, as Liverpool largely controlled the game and starved Madrid of significant opportunities despite their possession.
When asked on Prime Video post-game if he had noticed anything different about the team’s mentality in the past two results, head coach Arne Slot said:
“If you want my honest answer – that’s a difficult one standing next to someone from Manchester United (Wayne Rooney) – for me the difference is the playing style of the teams we face.”
“But then probably I get a lot of criticism again!”
“You cannot compare a game of football where the other team wants to bring the ball out from the back and you play against a team that’s either themselves in a low block and playing a direct style of football.”
“And that’s what we faced many times. In the last two games we’ve faced a different playing style and I think then you saw a similar playing style from us that we saw last season.
“But we have to make sure that against any playing style we face, we can win a game. Again, it’s shown the importance of set-pieces because most games we’ve lost we’ve conceded far too much.
“If we would have done just as good in the Champions League as in the Premier League – we scored four I think in the Champions League. If we would have done the same in the Premier League, we would have been on much more points than we are now.
“But we scored nil in the Premier League and conceded five. It’s difficult to pick up many points if that is your balance in the league.”
It certainly helps that Villa opted not to bombard us with long balls, and slowly but surely, Liverpool are finding their feet defensively again with consecutive clean sheets. Next up on Sunday, a trip on the M62 motorway to face familiar foes, Manchester City, before another international break begins.