What Arne Slot did in space of 30 minutes answered big question about Liverpool boss
It needed to be the half-time team talk of Arne Slot’s fledgling Liverpool career. Aside from that mid-September blip at home to Nottingham Forest, it has so far been plain sailing for the Dutchman on Merseyside, with the Reds having sent a litany of club records tumbling in these heady early weeks of the season.
Sunday’s trip to the Emirates, however, was the toughest assignment so far for Slot’s title hopefuls, with Manchester City having usurped them at the top of the Premier League table with a narrow win over Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
And it didn’t take long for the Gunners to bare their teeth in north London - Mikel Arteta’s side taking an early lead through Bukayo Saka, passed fit to start after missing games against Bournemouth and Shakhtar Donetsk.
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Though parity was restored through captain Virgil van Dijk in the 18th minute, Liverpool were irrefutably second best for much of the first half and were duly punished when Mikel Merino headed Arsenal back in front before the break.
It was down to Slot, then, to inspire some semblance of a reaction in the dressing room and, whatever the Reds boss said in what was almost certainly a charged 15 minutes, it appeared to work as the visitors dominated the contest after the restart, with their stronghold on the game increasing following a triple substitution on the hour mark.
With Liverpool’s midfield fortified by the running power of Dominik Szoboszlai and their attack revived by the guile of Cody Gakpo, the game turned on its axis. All of the sudden, the Reds were a yard quicker and a jot sharper, each pass infused with extra verve.
They got their reward in the 81st minute when the ever dependable Mohamed Salah slotted home after a fine lay-off from Darwin Nunezz. In the midst of the Emirates’ red mist, the Egyptian was the most composed man in the place as he finished past David Raya.
It was not enough to yield three points for Liverpool, but it does keep Arsenal at arms length, with the Gunners remaining four points behind the Reds in the table. How precious that buffer could prove to be in the months ahead.
If an ability to change the trajectory of a game from the dugout was one of the few tests still facing Slot at Liverpool, it is fair to say that the Dutchman passed with flying colours.