'How on earth?' - Arne Slot responds to Tottenham talk as Liverpool boss identifies quiet problem
If slow starts have been a problem in games for Liverpool of late, it's an assessment that Arne Slot himself says he agrees with. The Reds boss was at pains to pick through the bones of last week's 2-2 draw with Fulham to try and understand exactly why his team began sluggishly before being forced to respond after finding themselves both a man and a goal down to their visitors.
The issue has been a consistent one for the Reds this term, even if it would be unfair to highlight it as a particularly large deficiency in their game given they lead both the Premier League and Champions League tables in late December.
Despite that, though, Slot's team have tended to find their joy towards the back end of matches, with 33 of their 54 goals across all competitions coming in the second half of matches and the difficulty to get immediately to speed against Fulham at the weekend left them with quite the mountain to scale before being made to settle for a point which, in time, might come to represent an important one for a team who had 10 men for around 90 minutes all in following Andy Robertson's dismissal.
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Asked if he felt his team ate starting slowly in general right now, Slot said on Friday: "[Your point is] interesting because my feeling was the same. When I watched it back against Fulham, I felt the same, it was a slow start.
"It doesn't help that in many home games, some players get a knock and there is a treatment for 90 seconds and there's a rule in this country that the players has to be out for 45 seconds or one minute, however long it is, before coming back on, so that doesn't help build momentum.
"Against City and Real Madrid, we had quite the good start, so when I looked back at the Fulham game, the first 10 minutes were really good. We threatened them two or three times. The linesman raised flags that were not offside, it's not a big thing but doesn't help to create momentum.
"We had a shot from Curtis Jones, we should have had a corner and they gave a goal kick. So I think we started quite well but if you simply look at goals, then we didn't score and conceded one.
"And then the red card after 17 minutes, which is difficult because it was a vital moment but if you look at the other 40, I liked what I saw, there was intensity, we were on top of them and trying to get into the box but for the reasons I gave the momentum wasn't there like Man City or Real Madrid."
If Slot feels it is an issue to address, he might find it more difficult to rectify given the concession of the first goal in games was a general problem that blighted Jurgen Klopp's final year at Anfield. The Reds proved so adept at responding to such setbacks but the energy expended across the course of a gruelling Premier League season as a result inevitably had a knock-on effect for an exhausted side who lost their way at the vital period around April time.
There's no suggestion at this stage that the same pattern is going to engulf the team in that manner this time out, but it's clear Slot feels it is something that can be nipped in the bud, particularly with Tottenham up next on Sunday.
The Reds boss made no secret of his admiration for Spurs' style under Ange Postecoglu as he waxed lyrical about their approach and why he hopes such an attacking strategy can lead to the sort of silverware that will see criticism fall silent, even if there is an obvious hope it won't come in the Carabao Cup, where the two teams will meet next year for a place in the Wembley final.
"Interesting game," Slot said on that draw. "But I think every draw would have been interesting, because - and I don't know if it is always like this in England - but there are four top teams still in the draw. So there was not an easy one and now with Tottenham especially with us playing them on Sunday and in January again, so an interesting draw.
"I really have to give them credit because if I look from Tottenham and I come from Holland but I watch a lot of Match of the Day and David Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart they have always been a certain brand and a certain identity and I think Postecoglu gives them that completely, and they are always a joy to watch.
"Sometimes results go against them but they are one of the teams who beat City, like us, but not every team beat them in the manner we did and Tottenham did, it completely deserved in these two situations, dominated the whole game us and Tottenham.
"Great work Ange is doing there and I hope it is being seen a bit more there and I also hope, hope, hope he wins a trophy, not the League Cup! But I am completely a fan of his team for the Europa League.
"People always talk about trophies but for me his brand of football is so much more important but if could combine that with winning a trophy then it would be so good for football in general. So people stop talking about it being too attacking or whatever. How on earth can you play too [much] attacking football?"
In just a few short minutes of his Friday press conference, Slot's admiration for Spurs and their coach Postecgolu shone through and the Liverpool boss clearly knows those slow starts cannot be allowed to continue this weekend when his team look to secure top spot in the Premier League for Christmas Day; a period that is always viewed a symbolic for the rest of the campaign.
