Arne Slot believes his Liverpool side have taken a significant step forward in the last week even after they dropped more points in Wednesday’s 1-1 home draw with Sunderland.
Last Sunday’s 2-0 win at West Ham ended a run of three straight defeats that had included a 3-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest and a 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven, both at Anfield.
But there was more frustration for the home faithful in midweek as Liverpool needed a late Nordi Mukiele own goal and a stoppage-time goalline clearance from Federico Chiesa to take a point against the Black Cats, who led through Chemsdine Talbi.
“Four points out of two games is different from the last two home games we’ve played, in which we lost both and conceded seven goals,” Slot said ahead of Saturday’s trip to Leeds.
“In the last two games, we were one deflection away from keeping two clean sheets. That’s a step forward if you compare it to seven goals conceded in two games. We did not concede from a set-piece, which is also important, and we got two results.
“There are positives to take, but of course we are still not where we want to be. Let that be obvious and clear.”
Slot said he was also happy to have seen better recent performances from summer signings Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak, who have all been slow to settle.
It was Wirtz’s strike that Mukiele inadvertently deflected into the Sunderland net while Isak scored his first Liverpool goal at West Ham and has started the last two games, with Mohamed Salah dropping to the bench.
“Every player is in my mind to start a game of football because we have so many good players,” Slot said. “Mo has been such an exceptional player for us. He is always in my mind to either start or come in.”
Salah, the club’s talisman for so many years now, and Slot’s decision to bench him has caused much debate – something the manager said he expects.
“He deserves that because of the player he has been for this club and for his team-mates for six or seven years,” Slot said. “It’s completely normal.
“If I don’t play players I have just brought to the club we are already talking about it so then it is completely normal that people talk about it when (Salah) isn’t playing.”
Liverpool may have fallen 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal but though they are down in ninth, they remain only two points from the top four as they prepare for a trip to Elland Road to face a Leeds side who beat Chelsea 3-1 in midweek to move out of the bottom three.
“For me, that shows how good the Premier League is this season,” Slot said of the congested table. “It already was last season, but it gets better and better every season for obvious reasons – because everyone has so much money.
“It tells you how close the margins still are. But it is definitely our aim to come back to the top four because we’re obviously not happy with the position we are in at the moment.”
