Arne Slot says he is more than happy for Liverpool to be underestimated this season as the Reds boss makes Premier League spending point
Arne Slot says he is more than happy for Liverpool to be underestimated in this season’s Premier League title race, admitting closing the gap on champions Manchester City remains the priority. The Reds finished nine points behind Pep Guardiola’s winners last time out and as many as 22 in the campaign previous, which are statistics the head coach accepts need to improve.
The fallout from Sunday’s controversial 2-2 draw at the Etihad between City and Arsenal, the runners-up from the last two years, has continued all week, with many predicting the pair will once more contest the crown in the 24/25 term.
And asked if he is happy about seemingly taking a backseat to last season’s first and second sides at the top of the English game, Slot said he is not concerned if few people are seemingly talking up his own team’s chances of glory after a positive start that sees them head into the weekend’s action in second, a point off Guardiola’s leaders.
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“I don’t mind if they underestimate or overestimate us,” Slot said. “The situation is Manchester City have taken 30 or more points than us in the last two seasons, I think. So that is the situation as it is and we’re trying to close that gap. They (Liverpool) came closer than the season before and now we are trying even harder to close the gap. I don’t mind if they underestimate or overestimate us, I just focus on us. You guys have to talk and write every time, my job is to be focused on the team.
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“I know how good they (the players) are but we still have to prove things when the fixtures are coming. We all know after the international break then we go into tougher fixtures than we have now.
“But one thing I noticed in the Premier League compared to the League I have come from is that every team has a few players who cost £40m-£50m and have a lot of quality so there are no easy games in the Premier League. I know every manager says it but it is true.
“I think it is always difficult to judge the League table after five, six or seven games because if you look at Wolves they were really unlucky [with the fixture list] playing Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa – that is a different fixture list than the one we had. So I think the best way to judge the League table is after 19 games.”
Asked about the differences between Eredivisie football with Feyenoord and competing at the top of the Premier League with Liverpool, Slot added: “If you work in the Eredivisie and you play a lower league team…take my final game with Feyenoord, we played a lower team, a newly-promoted club (Excelsior) and they didn’t have one chance, they didn’t arrive once close to the goal and Feyenoord were not even playing that well in that game.
“So with the Premier League, with every team able to buy players for a lot of money, every team has a lot of quality and you can never feel that the game is yours. There is always a threat because of the quality players in this league – at every team.
“Normally in most leagues it is the top seven or eight but because the Premier League has so much money and we have to do so much press. As a coach you are full on for every game play whether it is Eredivisie or the Premier League, but the games in the Premier League are tougher than the Eredivisie.
“So you don’t see any differences in the amount the players run in kilometers and the spirits they make but the duels; a duel against Virgil van Dijk is different to a duel against a player from a newly-promoted team in the Eredivisie. So it asks and demands a lot of you every single Premier League game. That is why you see more rotation in the Premier League than any other league.”
