Arne Slot praised the team’s fighting spirit and Dominik Szoboszlai’s decisive “moment of magic” after Liverpool beat Arsenal 1-0 at Anfield.
On whether the team had found a way to win a tight game for the third time this season…
“Yes. If we played this game 10 more times in the same scenario, I think there would be eight draws, one win for us and one win for Arsenal. It’s the kind of game where there’s not much going on, but sometimes that’s positive because both teams defend very well.”
“However, I think normally Arsenal and us can create more chances in a game, but that also shows the structure and discipline of both teams without the ball.”
“Then you need a moment of magic, which we got from Dominik. That helped us win a game that, as I said, would have ended in a draw. But I disagree with you about the first game, I think we fully deserved to win against Bournemouth.”
Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates scoring against Arsenal.
On Szoboszlai’s value to the team and his excellent performances at right-back in the last two games…
“I don’t think he’s changed in the last few games from what he did last season. He’s always been a player who I think understands what a Liverpool player should be like: if you wear this shirt, you have to give everything, no matter what position you play. As a midfielder, he was always the first one to drop back and help defend, press high and today I don’t think he made any mistakes.”
“An unbelievable game from him in a position he’s probably only played two or three times in his life. That says a lot about the mentality he has. But he played really well, like he’s played a lot of times in attacking midfield.”
On Liverpool’s collective performance in keeping a clean sheet…
“If you play for Liverpool you get a lot of praise and sometimes you get a little bit of criticism, which is fine. They were brilliant today. You have to be brilliant against Arsenal because of all the attacking threat they have.
I think they thought, ‘Wow, we’ve done a fantastic job,’ and then they looked at the substitution list and saw Eze and Odegaard coming on! But again, they coped well with both of them. So it was a very good game. I thought Virgil (van Dijk) was unbelievable against Newcastle and he and the others did very well today.”
On what he’s pleased with in the team in the early weeks of the season and what still needs to be improved…
“The spirit. We’ve had to bring quite a few new players into the squad because a few have left. We’ve got to start the season against Bournemouth – who did really well last season and have six points this season – then Newcastle away, which is one of the toughest away games for any team in the league, and then Arsenal at home, which is definitely one of the three or four toughest games of the season.”
“We’re still doing well though. We’re not perfect and neither were we last season. But you can still see a great spirit where everyone wants to work hard to get results. And then you need a bit of luck, which we had at Newcastle and today.”
“But I’ve said this so many times, I think Michael Jordan once said, ‘The harder we work, the luckier we get,’ and that’s something I think you can say about this team. They work incredibly hard and there will be moments during the season where we work hard and don’t have the luck to score, but we always give ourselves a chance because we work so hard.”
