Despite a commanding 6-3 victory over Tottenham, Liverpool manager Arne Slot expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance.
The Reds dominated the game against Ange Postecoglou’s side, and despite the scoreline suggesting a close match, Tottenham never seemed likely to win. Liverpool had a comfortable lead of 5-1 before late goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke spared Spurs further embarrassment.
However, Slot was not entirely pleased with his team’s performance, criticizing some players for easing off after the hour mark. He deemed this ‘not good enough’, even though they secured all three points.
But then the same players with the same quality thought that 10 or 15 minutes of not working as hard was good enough. Tottenham have enough quality to score goals if you give them chances. You have to be on top of your game for the whole game and we didn’t do that.”
Liverpool now sits four points clear at the top of the Premier League, with a game in hand over the rest of the top 10. But Slot has warned his team against complacency.
Liverpool’s manager expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance, telling Sky Sports: “It tells you we are a very good team. Still three games to go until halfway but if you go here and play the game we did then it shows we are a hard team to beat. If it was easy to win the league then every team would do it.
The first 50-55 minutes is what you want, apart from the goal we conceded. 3-1 up and then it ended up being 5-1. We thought it was enough but Tottenham have far too much quality and they’re able to create and score.
Against every team, there’s an opportunity. If they go for man for man which they did for the first goal, then it needs one player to outplay the other and then you have an extra man. They have a very good idea about football.
“If you give them too much space then they will hurt you. I like what Ange does. He is at a club where they don’t win that much in the last 15 to 20 years. They should be one of the best players in the world otherwise you don’t play for Liverpool.
“Mo [Salah] got two goals and two assists. He played a very good game. With Trent, the focus might be on the great cross for the first goal but playing against Son is not easy but he did very well.”