SLOT OF BOTHER
Arne Slot rages at Liverpool stars despite continuing 100% record but amazing stats show why Alisson is still No1
He called one Liverpool ace the 'best player in the world' in his position
ARNE SLOT was furious with his Liverpool players - despite them continuing their perfect Champions League record.
Mo Salah’s second half penalty against Girona made it six wins from six for the Reds and means they look certain to finish the top eight and avoid a play-off round in February.
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But Liverpool's Slot, who welcomed back keeper Alisson from injury, slammed his team for not being “aggressive” enough in Spain.
He said: “I’m really pleased with the first five games, but I’m far from pleased about this performance. Especially two things.
“If you play against a team that has such a good idea about football and knows how to bring the ball out from the back like some of the teams we’ve played recently, like City or Real Madrid, you need to be so intense if you want to make it difficult for them.
“But we were so easily outplayed and then this team can cause you a lot of problems.
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“They showed this in their games, in all of the Champions League this season, except PSV Eindhoven.
“I almost feel sorry for them as they deserve so much more points than the three points they have.
“The other part is every time we lost the ball, we were not aggressive enough so every time we lost the ball, they could go almost all the way to our goal and have a shot.
“We had hardly any control at all over the game. Maybe the second half was a bit better – I’m trying to be positive.”
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Brazilian keeper Alisson had been sidelined for over two months with a hamstring injury but made five key saves before Salah struck from the spot after VAR flagged up a foul by Donny van de Beek on Luis Diaz.
Slot joked: “We have to thank Alisson that we kept a clean sheet.
John O'Shea says teams all over Europe will try to sign Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool
“Maybe his team-mates wanted to make sure if he was really fit, to give him a little work.
“Of course that was not the idea but he showed today why he is so important for us. I said so many times that he is our first goalkeeper.
“That has nothing to do with Caoimhin Kellher, as he did so so well, but Alisson has been so important for this club for so many years and showed why he is one of the best or in my opinion, the best in the world.
“Let’s hope he can keep on putting these performances in and even more that he can stay fit.”
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Kelleher, who has made it known he wants to leave Merseyside, was forced to sit on the bench here in northern Spain despite helping his team storm to the top of the table.
Despite Kelleher’s fine displays — his only blip was against Newcastle six days earlier — Alisson was always going to be parachuted back into the team.
And he now finds himself back in a team who have still lost only once all season.
Four points clear in the Premier League and now looking certain to finish in the top eight of the Champions League.
This means they will miss the two-legged play-offs in February.
Crucially, the second leg of the games will be played before Liverpool’s scheduled Premier League trip to face Manchester City on February 23.
While Slot’s team will be able to put their feet up in that week, City — potentially — have a play-off match.
Nevertheless, it looks like City are out of the title race and Liverpool are going to take some stopping in all competitions.
Slot also has the added bonus that he will be able to rest any players with aches and strains for the remaining league-stage clashes against Lille and PSV Eindhoven in January.
Yet the Dutchman will be mildly concerned about his team’s performance.
In a crowd of about 10,000 — restricted while the ground is being renovated — there were just 492 Liverpool fans.
To qualify with points, supporters had to have been to 27 European away matches including Spartak Moscow in September 2017. Talk about dedication.
One player making his 235th Liverpool appearance was Joe Gomez and, remarkably, he is still looking for his first goal.
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He was denied the moment he must be dreaming of in the fourth minute when Paulo Gazzaniga, who had stints at Spurs and Southampton among others, showed good reactions to push a header over the bar.
Gazzaniga also kept out a well-hit drive from Darwin Nunez, who was then guilty of wasting a couple of other chances in the first half, particularly one before the break.
It was exactly the sort of performance from Nunez which makes him such a frustrating player.
And Slot admitted that the Uruguayan, is struggling as he made it five games without scoring.
He added: “Every striker around the ball has a period where every ball goes in and sometimes he has a period when he tries so hard and it doesn’t go in.
“We have other players who can score and Mo did today.
“We would love to see Darwin score because every striker needs goals and that is why I kept him in for such a long time but unfortunately he couldn’t score.”
The best chance of the game — until the goal — came in Girona’s first attack.
Unfortunately for the home team, it fell to Daley Blind — although it will come as no surprise to Manchester United fans he completely missed the ball from six yards.
How Liverpool have fared in Europe after edging past Girona in Spain
LIVERPOOL maintained their 100 per cent start with victory over Girona. Check out the incredible stats behind their season so far...
- Twenty of Liverpool’s last 23 goals in all competitions have been scored in the second half — with nine of their 13 in the Champions League coming after the interval.
- The Reds have won five successive European away matches for the third time in their history, also doing so in runs ending in September 1984 and May 2022.
- English sides are unbeaten in their last eight matches against Spanish sides in the Champions League (W4 D4) since Real Madrid beat Chelsea 2-0 in their April 2023 clash.
- Girona are the 13th different Spanish side Liverpool have faced. They have beaten ten of those teams — the exceptions being Sevilla, Valencia and Celta Vigo.
- Mo Salah scored his sixth penalty for Liverpool in the Champions League — drawing him level with Steven Gerrard for the most for the club
Alisson saved the follow-up from Alejandro Frances and then threw out a desperate arm to avoid being beaten at his near post by Miguel Gutierrez.
The Brazilian stopped an effort from an offside-looking Bryan Gil.
But his finest moment came before the break when he used both his hands to save a decent strike from former Watford midfielder Yaser Asprilla.
Just seconds into the second half, Alisson was at it again, denying Arnaut Danjuma this time.
Girona’s defence certainly had few problems dealing with the Liverpool attack, who looked to have run out of ideas when Diaz fell to the ground after tangling with Van de Beek.
French referee Benoit Bastien told Diaz to get up as he thought it was a dive.
Yet after Andy Robertson’s shot had been saved for a corner, VAR checked over the clash.
Bastien was called over to the screen and did not take long before pointing to the spot — and Salah stuck away the penalty by sending the keeper the wrong way.
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Liverpool avoided any late dramas to record an 18th win in 21 matches for Slot.
When he landed on Merseyside, at no stage did he think it would be this easy.
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