Arne Slot may be impressing the football world with the exceptional start to his Liverpool career, but there is one critic he is still trying to win over every week. His father, Arend.

Slot Snr does not hold back when offering his opinions on Liverpool’s performances, and despite his son topping the Premier League and Champions League tables, he is not shy of saying when a game does not get his pulse racing.

Liverpool’s Champions League victory over Lille in midweek was an exercise in control, typical of many of the wins this season as Jürgen Klopp’s heavy metal is occasionally replaced by opera.

Slot admits the more patient approach against the French side was not to all tastes.

“That is difficult for fans and my father is a fan as well,” said Slot. “When I call him after a game he says: ‘Ah, it wasn’t as exciting as other games of Liverpool,’ when he watched the game against Lille.

“I had to try to explain to him [in] these games you can easily lose if you are starting to force all kinds of difficult balls, but he’s not always agreeing with me then. As a manager I was quite happy with our performance against Lille as they were well organised as a team and I think there was one moment in the game I can remember Curtis [Jones] tried to play, from the halfway line, a bit of a ball that had a bit of risk and we lost that ball and they counter-attacked us. So that is the risk you have if you play against a low-block team.

“[Nottingham] Forest is probably the best in the league if you play these stupid balls – I call them stupid balls – which my father would love to see us playing a bit more. That is the risk of them creating much more chances and it is a difficult balance of taking the risk and conceding a lot or having control and not creating as much.

“Against this team, going 1-0 down like we have seen against Forest is even a bigger problem especially against a low block.”

Such has been Liverpool’s dominance this season, the majority of opponents have set-up with deep defences, surrendering possession in an effort to frustrate Slot’s side.

That was typical under Klopp, too, but there often seemed to be more jeopardy when teams were able to constantly counter-attack and goalkeeper Alisson would be called into action.

‘I understand it is difficult for fans’

This season, Liverpool’s matches have rarely been so end-to-end. That is a sign of the evolution of the team, even if neutrals would prefer more risk.

“It is a balance we have to find and I understand it is difficult for fans who come to the stadium to see us winning, but hopefully also scoring a lot of goals in an exciting match,” said Slot.

“But you need two teams for that, and the better we do the less likely it is teams come to Anfield and say: ‘OK, let’s go to a high press and press them all over the pitch.’”

Liverpool will be without Jones for the visit of Ipswich Town on Saturday, but his injury is not serious.

Ibrahima Konaté is expected to return after being rested against Lille in midweek.