
Anfield Index
·18 de outubro de 2025
Arne Slot makes Liverpool play style promise after recent struggles

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Yahoo sportsAnfield Index
·18 de outubro de 2025
Arne Slot believes Liverpool are now entering the phase where excuses no longer apply. After a record-breaking transfer window that saw close to £450m spent on eight new arrivals, including the British-record fees for £116m Florian Wirtz and £125m Alexander Isak Isak, the Liverpool head coach wants to see evidence that his reshaped side has settled. Ten players exited across the same period, creating one of the most dramatic squad refreshes in the club’s modern history.
The disruption has shown. Liverpool suffered three defeats in a row before the international break, losing to Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea. Slot admits adaptation has been slower than hoped, although he insists the core structure of his team remains intact.
“You are expecting more and more if players are longer together and they have missed out on players more than a few times in pre-season and during the first part of the season,” Slot said.
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“So you would expect it to go better and better but like I said I see a lot of comparisons between the second part of last season and the first part of this season, there is not much difference. The only difference is that we have conceded more goals than we did in the second part of last season.”
He pointed to one specific shortfall. “The way the game flows is similar and the second part of last season we scored seven very, very, very important set-piece goals where we are now on zero from seven games.”
Slot has also doubled down on his commitment to possession-based football. He will not be drawn into the growing Premier League trend of long balls and attritional tactics.
“I think that playing style of long ball and second ball is not a playing style a team has had that has won this league in the past 10, 15 or 20 years,” he said.
“If you want to win the league you cannot, in my opinion, it’s not able with that playing style.”
He acknowledged pragmatism when facing elite opponents but remains unconvinced. “I don’t see this style at any team in Europe that wins the league. It’s not Bayern Munich, not Barcelona, not Real Madrid, it’s not Liverpool, not Man City… but it is a style of play you see a lot happening to Man City.”
Slot understands Liverpool must now find solutions. “Long ball, low block, long ball, low block, long ball, low block after they were so successful and this is what you see quite a lot at the moment with us as well. The way to break it is a special moment like we had in the first half of the season a lot or a set piece like we had in the second part of the season and these two things we haven’t had as much as I had hoped for, but still, still, still, still we are the team that created the most from open play. Open play. That is something positive to take but what is not positive is that we have conceded nine goals, four from set-pieces.”
Manchester United will provide the perfect measuring stick. Slot has laid down the challenge. Now his Liverpool side must prove that the adaptation is complete.
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