Liverpool manager Arne Slot says his side’s outstanding defensive performances have stemmed from their ability to dominate most of the games they have played in.
The Dutchman has enjoyed one record start to life at Anfieldwon 11 of his first 12 games in all competitions, becoming the first manager in the club’s history to win his first six away games after the The Reds beat RB Leizpig 1-0 in the Champions during the week.
A surprise defeat by 1-0 against Nottingham Forest in September is the only blemish on Slot’s notebook so far, but Callum Hudson-Odoi’s winner is just one of three goals Liverpool have conceded in the Premier League so far – comfortably the best defensive record in the division.
That resolve will be tested on Sunday when Liverpool visit Premier League title rivals Arsenal, but Slot is confident he knows why his side have been so successful so far.
“There are two reasons why we don’t give up much,” Slot told reporters in his pregame press conference. “One of them is that most of the games, almost all of them, maybe except for one, we dominated and controlled large parts of the game.
“It helps if you dominate, if you have the ball, so you can’t concede afterwards. But I also like that we have difficult parts of the game or a big part of the game like we had against Chelsea. That work rate is incredible not to grant it
“If you combine that with having the likes of Virgil (van Dijk) and Ibou (Konate) and the two goalkeepers we’ve used so far, that’s probably one of the reasons, those three elements, why we haven’t conceded a lot.”
Slot also explained the impact of having three consecutive away games on the calendar: the visit to arsenal sandwiched between trips to RB Leipzig and Brighton & Hove Albion.
“This is part of our lives (and) it’s also what the players are used to,” he continued. “If they play Champions League or, like last season, Europa Leagueyou know these challenges are there.
“For this game (Arsenal), we have three days in between, so it is more than we had before the Leipzig game. It is also more than we have for the Brighton game. Unfortunately for us, for all these we have three games a day. less in recovery than the three teams we face, but that is also part of a season and our lives.”
Arsenal suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season last time out… 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth this saw William Saliba sent off, while Slot’s Liverpool beat Chelsea in a hard-fought 2-1 win at Anfield.
