Liverpool boss Arne Slot analysed after Ipswich win – Ruthless substitutions, blunt words | Football News

“The players have to understand that in the first half it wasn’t enough.”

Liverpool’s new manager Arne Slot has revealed that the visitors’ dressing room at Portman Road was not a pleasant place to be at half-time.

Slot, who took charge of his first Premier League game, had seen his Liverpool side fail to reach the levels of intensity required to win the division, regardless of the opposition. Ipswich were brave, bold and aggressive, as their direct approach was not matched by the visitors. He was unimpressed, and he let his players know it.

Of the 53 duels played in the first 45 minutes, Ipswich won 58%.

A high percentage of those duels were won by Ipswich centre-forward Liam Delap, who gave Jarell Quansah a run for his money. Slot identified the problem and wasted no time in replacing Quansah at half-time with Ibrahima Konate: it wasn’t an injury-related substitution, it was purely tactical.

The Frenchman’s power and influence helped Liverpool regain control, stemming the flow to Delap, and provided the launch pad for their second-half performance. Konate helped their duel-to-win ratio jump to 55 percent after the break.

A second-half expected goals haul of 2.61 from 15 shots, 13 of which came from inside the box, resulted in two goals and three points for Slot, while Liverpool’s tactic of exploiting Ipswich’s high-risk play, based on one-on-one defending against Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, was exposed.

Slot said: “I told them at half time that if you want to win here you have to win your duels and turn them into a fight. Ibou [Konate] He helped us because he immediately won his duels against the number nine and this allowed us to have possession of the ball: we should have scored more than two goals.

“I have to give credit to Ipswich because they were aggressive and had no fear all over the pitch, they won more second balls and duels in the first half. That’s why it was a balanced game. In the second half we won more duels and played the ball behind. When teams risk playing one-on-one, when you have Luis Diaz, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota, we had to use them – we did it better in the second half.

“Jurgen (Klopp) hated the 12.30 kick-off and we played as if we hated the 12.30 kick-off, because we were not in the game in the first half. People have told me there are no easy games in the Premier League and today it showed. Ipswich made it very difficult for us in the first half and there will be more.

“It’s not the first time in nine years that Liverpool have played well. I inherited a really good team with great individuals. But the players have to understand that it wasn’t enough in the first half. If they play to their full potential, they can be really good. It was nice to see the goals we scored.”

Salah: It’s a different style

Many observers will have been curious to gauge how much the Liverpool team had changed under Slot’s guidance.

There has been talk of replacing heavy metal football with a more orchestral type of pace. However, for the most part, the way Liverpool attacked still bore the direct nature of Klopp’s football.

Last season Liverpool averaged 25.6 successful long passes per game, but at Portman Road they surpassed that figure, finishing with 31.

Perhaps it was more of a tactical decision to try and dismantle Ipswich than a true reflection of Slot’s ideals, as he is traditionally a possession-based manager who likes to control games through midfield.

Salah, who scored and provided the assist for Jota’s first goal, was asked about the change in style from Klopp to Slot.

Talking to TNT Sports he said: “It’s quite different. Jurgen has been in the team for eight years, he gave everything, now there is a new coach and a new system. It’s quite different for all of us, we have to adapt. We just have to get to know his way of playing and enjoy football.

“We don’t have to put more pressure on him, we just have to play football and enjoy our games. We’ll see in the end.”