Arne Slot seeking new ways to stop opposition as Liverpool aim to bounce back | OneFootball

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes he benefited from the aura of Jurgen Klopp in his first season, but knows the situation has changed now they are the defending Premier League champions.

Slot thinks opponents felt they could capitalise on his first season, coming from the Eredivisie to manage in England for the first time and succeeding the highly regarded German, and were keen to exploit a perceived weakness.

However, that played into Liverpool’s hands as a squad which – apart from the hardly used Federico Chiesa – had been founded on Klopp’s methods took advantage of more attacking opposition to establish a solid lead and then go on to win the title.

Slot noticed a change in the approach towards them midway through last season but by then it was virtually too late to reel them in.

However, this campaign no team is coming to attack them and they are being picked off on the counter-attack or when making individual errors.

Even five successive victories from the off were far from comfortable, and two defeats in four days has shown Slot they need to find other ways of managing opponents.

“The first part of last season, Jurgen gave me a lot of gifts but one of the gifts he also gave me was ending up third the year before and fifth the year before that, and him being so well known that a new manager came in and everyone thought ‘Oh, let’s start to play against Liverpool’,” said the Dutchman.

“Teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league after half of the season and top of the Champions League after the first part of the season.

“I can see this now going into this part of this season and we have to find answers to that.

“Last season one of them was a set-piece, like many teams unlock a low block with set-pieces, and this season we haven’t done that yet.”

Individual errors have been costly in more ways than one, with a mistake by Ibrahima Konate against Galatasaray in midweek leading to goalkeeper Alisson Becker sustaining a hamstring injury.

The Brazil international will be out for a number of weeks but Slot would not commit a timeframe beyond the match at home to Manchester United on October 19.

“Alisson is not a part of the squad tomorrow and he is not going to travel to Brazil for the national team,” said Slot ahead of the trip to Chelsea.

“It depends on how fast a recovery goes. It’s clear he’s not going to play for Brazil. I would be surprised if he will be there for the first game after the international break.

“From then things can go a bit faster or slower. It’s always difficult to say the amount of games and weeks.”

It means summer arrival Giorgi Mamardashvili will make his Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge.

“We knew we were bringing in a very good goalkeeper but when he played his first game (against Southampton in the Carabao Cup) that is always the best way to see if he has adjusted well or not, and you saw in that game that he has adjusted well to our club,” said Slot.

“That is not a surprise because he is a quality goalkeeper.”