Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s trip to Tottenham, Liverpool head coach was somewhat optimistic about the direction of travel amidst his players: “Now, I see players progressing in terms of their
fitness, and — as a result of that — their performances.”
This weekend comes with challenges, of course, as despite Mohamed Salah’s very public row with his boss the two seemed to have patched things up last weekend. Salah gave his best (and hungriest) performance of the season against Brighton, and then had to depart for AFCON. Despite the strange situation, his absence will make an impact on Liverpool.
On the situation, Slot pointed to last weekend: “Actions speak louder than words. We moved on — he was the first substitution I made.”
Among the tentative positives mentioned is Ibrahima Konaté’s form, with Slot using phrasing many of us have used in recent weeks to note that the Frenchman “has not been as much on the crime scene recently” — but noted that this is both due to his own form and choices as well as the team’s form as a whole.
“We are less vulnerable in certain situations than we were in other parts of the season,” Slot said, though did note that increased attacking threat against Brighton did come with chances at the other end as well. Despite Brighton’s chances, Slot’s outlook is positive on the whole: “We are getting closer and closer to the team I want us to be.”
The Reds are not quite there yet though, and need to increase their dominance on matches in order to stop having to win or lose based on officials’ decisions. “We have to improve so that we are not so dependent on luck,” Slot said. “[We must] make sure that this team gets to a level so that referee decisions do not influence results in a way that they have done in recent weeks.”
