Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Arne Slot believes it has become harder for Liverpool to score goals after they left it late to earn a stoppage-time 2-0 victory over Brentford.
The league-leaders, who had 37 shots on Saturday, needed Darwin Nunez’s late double to secure a precious three points in their bid for Premier League glory.
The hard-fought victory in west London came after successive draws to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and Slot believes the defensive set-up of opponents has made it increasingly difficult for his side to find the net.
“What you do see is that at this moment in time it’s harder for us to convert our chances into goals,” Slot said.
“That’s not only up to us, that’s also because teams throw themselves in front of every ball every time we get a chance.
“So many of the other teams try to prevent us from scoring because all of them are in a low block.”
Liverpool’s defence has been key to their success this season, conceding just 20 goals in 21 Premier League matches.
Slot credited the centre-back partnership of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk as a key reason behind their success.
“Most of those moments were defended really well by Ibou and Virgil,” he added.
“They went in a one-v-one against them in a counter-attack but we pushed them wide really well, which helped Alisson to save those shots.
“I emphasised on that in the pre-match meeting, Bryan Mbeumo likes it on his left and scores a lot by going inside.
“Of course, one of the reasons we’re so high in the league table is because we have two and four very good centre-backs.”
What you do see is that at this moment in time it’s harder for us to convert our chances into goals
Arne Slot
Brentford, who mounted a comeback in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with champions Manchester City, failed to replicate that performance on Saturday.
Bees boss Thomas Frank talked up the physicality of Liverpool as a factor behind their success.
“Physically they are outstanding,” Frank said,
“(Dominik) Szoboszlai, (Alexis) Mac Allister, (Cody) Gakpo and of course Konate and Van Dijk. They are technically and tactically fantastic and they have the physicality.”
