Slot Talk: “We Took Control of the Ball from the Start of the Game”

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Despite the early goal conceded, the manager thought we were in control of the game from the get-go.

Liverpool FC went down a goal early in their visit to the San Siro, but it was otherwise a dominating display against AC Milan.

Head coach Arne Slot had some interesting tactical tidbits in his post-match interview, including set-pieces, how Macca and Szoboszlai were playing, and more:

(On whether set-pieces were viewed as a potential vulnerability of Milan’s)

I don’t look at the other team, I always look at my own team. I think we were a bit disappointed with the result against Nottingham Forest [but] we were also disappointed from getting eight corner kicks and not scoring, but we were very close. We felt with all the work we put in on set-pieces that at some moment we should get the reward.

I think [it was] two very good set-pieces and two very good headers that got us two goals, which was important because I think we were very comfortable on the ball, pressed really well, but in the end you need goals as well. We hit the crossbar a few times today out of open play, so we needed set-pieces and it was good to see that we scored them for all the work my assistants and the players put in. It is nice to see it got rewarded today.

(On the positions of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai)

You asked me something about Dom and Mac Allister being wingers, [but] maybe the translation wasn’t perfect. I think both of them played a good game, but they were not playing as wingers - they were playing as midfielders. The team took control of the ball, kept it for a long time, switched the play really well, which led to numerous chances for us. Unfortunately we couldn’t score them in the first half, but in the second half we had a great team goal apart from the two set-pieces we scored in the first half.

(On conceding early and overcoming that)

It sounds a bit weird if you play three, four, five minutes and we already conceded one chance, which was offside, and then afterwards you concede a goal [and] that I’m going to tell you now that we didn’t even start bad. I think we took control of the game from the start. But in the first five minutes we also lost the ball from two choices that were not the best to make and then they could counter-attack us.

Afterwards we dominated possession even more and that didn’t lead to counter-attacks from them. Although it sounds weird to say that we started well if you concede two chances, but we took control of the ball from the start of the game. Except from the first five minutes where they had two counter-attacks, I think we dominated possession and created chances as well.

Liverpool’s next Champions League will be in a fortnight, when they host another Italian side, Bologna at Anfield.