It was wet, cold, and anything but expected, as Liverpool drew historic rivals Manchester United 2-2 at Anfield on Sunday. How did Liverpool boss Arne Slot view his team’s performance?
He praised Manchester United’s performance, but in a bit of a passive-aggressive way, as he feels his team failed to finish early and left the door open for the visitors.
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Lisandro Martinez and Amad Diallo sandwiched goals around markers from Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, as Liverpool both came back and blew a lead at home.
The Reds’ table lead grows to six points with a match-in-hand, but Slot will know he could’ve had all three points on a weekend that Arsenal and Chelsea both stumbled to draws.
Arne Slot reaction — How did Liverpool manager view thrilling 2-2 draw with Manchester United?
Will you take the point? “They got a big chance just before the end. We also feel a bit relieved. That might not be the story of the game in my opinion. We created much more chances than them but being 1-nil down, 2-1 up, and conceding such a big chance, it’s something to take. If I look back at it tomorrow, I would’ve wanted more.”
Did Man United surprise you? “If you watch it back, the first 20-25 minutes we had three very good chances but we played against very good individuals and players. You could see it today. It’s a chance for them against us to show themselves against Wolves at home or other games, to compete against the best in the league.”
“I do think we had a lot of ball possession. The game was spent mostly on their half. In the last 15 minutes we saw how well they can play if they play, cause for a while Andre Onana just hit it long, but when it got so open on both sides, you could see they were maybe better than they even know themselves.”
Bad game for Trent Alexander-Arnold? “I think Trent has played mostly very good games for this club. There have probably have been games he wasn’t on his best. Today he wasn’t but it probably had to do with them as well. At times Ryan wasn’t close enough to him. I’d put it more on the quality of Dalot and Bruno Fernandes than him.”
Virgil van Dijk reaction — An ‘opportunity missed’
Disappointed with the draw? “If you don’t win it’s always an opportunity missed. It could’ve been a lot worse if the last chances goes in. A game with a lot of emotions, 1-nil down, great comeback going 2-1 up, then we have to control the game much better. We were still sloppy, and giving the ball up too easily. We have to take it on the chin and work hard like we always have been doing this season and move onto the next one.”
Too many mistakes? “Errors, I don’t know about errors but I think if you concede two at home. As a defender, you don’t want to concede at all especially at home. Defending is not about a defender, but everyone else on the team. Today we put ourselves at times in open situations. With the quality they have, they can hurt you.”
What went wrong then? “It’s our own fault. We have to be honest with each other and manage the game much better. At times we’re making the wrong decisions and open. They have quality to hurt you then. We’re still a work in progress. We can improve and we should if we want to make our hopes and dreams.”
