'That surprised even me' - Arne Slot names Ryan Gravenberch quality that he wasn't expecting
Arne Slot admitted Ryan Gravenberch's quality off the ball has surprised him since he arrived at Liverpool. The Dutch midfielder won another Player of the Match award on Saturday as the Reds recorded a scrappy win at Molineux courtesy of goals from Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah.
Gravenberch has been a revelation for Liverpool in the early stages of his second season on Merseyside after a transitional campaign under Jurgen Klopp, taking to the No.6 position in Slot's side like a duck to water.
Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi was earmarked for that role but turned down a lucrative move to Anfield in favor of remaining in the Basque Country, and Gravenberch has made the position his own in the opening weeks of the season.
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Asked during a Sky Sports interview how happy he is with Gravenberch, Slot said: "[It's] not only me [who is happy], I think all fans are as well - and him (Gravenberch) too! He's just very comfortable on the ball, with Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) as well and that helps the team if you want to have a possession style of play.
"If you want to have the ball and you want to keep it for as long as you can, it always helps if you have two players who are so comfortable on the ball in the holding midfielder position, and the two of them if they can run as well.
"If you think of the things that Ryan does with the ball, we don't do enough justice to his game. He does a really good job without the ball as well which surprised even me, because I know him from the Dutch league, but I think Bayern and Jurgen did a good job making him better without the ball and that's what we are taking the benefits of right now."
Liverpool has now won seven of its eight games in all competitions under Slot, and the Dutchman admitted that the results the team is recording have made it easier for the players to buy into his methods.
"Definitely," Slot said. "Results in pre-season helped and the players started to believe in what we want. But it's not that strange that they believe in what we want, because there are a lot of similarities with what they were used to and where they were really successful under Jurgen.
"I am the first to understand that the six fixtures we've had could have been much more difficult than the six fixtures Wolves have had, so I think they are 20th in the table but they played much much better than that, and we still have a lot to prove if we're going to come across the top sides in the table. There's a lot to improve but it's good that we have these points and that we are where we are at the moment."