Liverpool FC lost their away game at Chelsea and their lead in the Premier League table. Afterwards, coach Arne Slot defended Mohamed Salah and explained why “all the alarm bells” were ringing for him in the case of Ibrahima Konaté.
The third defeat in a row, the second late and decisive goal conceded in a Premier League game in a row – Liverpool FC’s precarious rise has been halted for the time being. Head coach Arne Slot will at least not be cursing the upcoming international break. Their fiercest rivals, Arsenal, who stole the top spot in the table from the Reds with a 2-0 win over West Ham, are already in a completely different flow.
Slot is currently more concerned about his weakening offense, in which Florian Wirtz once again only appeared as a substitute, than his defensive work. Media criticism grew after the 1-2 defeat at Chelsea, particularly of Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah. “The more they play together, the better they will understand each other,” Liverpool’s coach reassured: “You have to work really hard to reach a certain level, and then it’s very difficult in soccer to maintain that level because you’re also playing against very good teams.”
Slot explains quite simply that the understanding between the Swede and the Egyptian on the pitch still has room for improvement. “The players joined us at different times in the summer,” said the Dutchman, adding: “There was hardly any training time last week.”
Slot considers the expectations placed on Salah to be particularly exaggerated, and he defended his otherwise most reliable striker: “He had many opportunities to do what he has done so often. He is human, and it’s not the case that he always converts every chance he gets into a goal. That’s probably because people know what he achieved last season.”
Last season, Salah scored 29 goals and provided 18 assists in the league, but currently he has “only” scored two goals and provided two assists. At the same point last season, he had scored four goals and provided four assists.
The big issue at Liverpool at the moment is a lack of efficiency. Slot also thought about the previous defeat at Crystal Palace: “In both games, we created more chances than our opponents, but the fact is that we only scored once in both games, while our opponents scored twice.”
However, no one needs to paint the devil on the wall. “If the result today had been better, with a draw or a win, we would have had a great start to the season, considering everything that happened in Liverpool over the summer,” Slot clarified.
“With another sprint, you never know if it will end well”
Meanwhile, Ibrahima Konaté may be a new cause for concern. The former Leipzig player had to be replaced by Curtis Jones in the 56th minute. Tests in the next few days should provide information about the severity of the injury.
“I don’t know if it’s a serious injury, but I know he was limping a little, and when I asked him, he said he could feel his quadriceps a little. That set off alarm bells for me, because with another sprint, you never know if it will end well,” Slot explained his thoughts: “I already had a substitution in mind, maybe for a few minutes later, because the right center back had a lot of possession and we needed to create something from that position.”
However, the decisive impetus once again came from the opponent. Against rivals Manchester United on October 19, it is therefore imperative to turn the tide again.
