Arne Slot Disagrees With Danny Murphy’s Liverpool Verdict After First Premier League Defeat
Liverpool experienced their first defeat under Arne Slot’s leadership against Nottingham Forest, but the Dutchman does not agree with Danny Murphy’s suggestion regarding Saturday’s loss at Anfield.
Slot disagreed with Murphy’s theory that the international break was responsible for Liverpool’s defeat to Nottingham Forest.
This marked the first time the Dutchman had tasted defeat since becoming the Reds’ manager on Saturday. It was a dismal afternoon for the Reds as Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal sealed Forest’s victory at Anfield.
Additionally, Slot’s flawless start at the club came to an unremarkable end. Former Liverpool player Danny Murphy shared his thoughts on the loss, proposing that the busy international break for the club’s players may have played a role in the defeat.
Speaking on Match of the Day, he said: “Maybe a little [bit of a reality check]. There was a lack of ruthlessness and sharpness in the final third. Maybe a little bit players travelling all over with the international duty.
“If he [Slot] wasn’t sure before he’ll know now how competitive this Premier League is. But no panic, still a lot of positives for Liverpool, it’s been a good start.”
But Slot has refused to give excuses for his side. While he recognises that the international break could have tired his players out, he does not believe it was the reason for the defeat.
Speaking after the full-time whistle, the Dutchman said: “It’s always difficult but I don’t think [the break] had anything to do with it.
“Players came back strong and I saw today a team that wanted to fight until the end. That wasn’t to do with energy. We simply had the ball a lot we had to create from ball possession.
“If you look at the goals we scored until now, we scored quite a few from transition moments from winning the ball back but the other team (Forest) played over our press a lot with a lot of long balls. We mostly got the ball in our last line.
“It wasn’t good enough today because too many individual performances in ball possession were not up to the standards that I’m used to from these players.”
He added: “The only thing we had influence on was ball possession because they played a lot of long balls, so if you then take the ball back you need to go past 11 players.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three or four quite good chances. That’s by far not enough.
“If you have so much possession and play so much in their half we need to be much better, we lost the ball so many times in simple situations. That’s the main story from the game – ball possession was not good enough.”
Slot will be hoping that Liverpool can recover in the coming week as their busy schedule intensifies. The Reds begin their Champions League journey against AC Milan on Tuesday, followed by a home match against Bournemouth next weekend.
In other Liverpool news, Five Key Lessons Arne Slot Took from Liverpool’s Defeat to Nottingham Forest at Anfield
