EPL: Arne Slot Explains Why Liverpool Lost to Man Utd

Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, has pointed to Manchester United’s defensive tactics specifically their “low block” and reliance on the “long ball”—as the primary factors in his side’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Dependable NG reports that the loss leaves Liverpool four points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal after eight fixtures and extends the club’s worrying run of consecutive defeats.

Speaking to Match of the Day following the match, Slot expressed his frustration with United’s approach and how an early setback immediately complicated the game for his team.

“It is always difficult to play against a team that defends in a low block and mainly plays the long ball,” Slot stated. “It makes it even more difficult when you go one down after one minute when one of our players is on the floor.”

The game saw Bryan Mbeumo give United a shock early lead. Although Cody Gakpo managed to pull Liverpool level in the second half, it was the home side who found a late winner through Harry Maguire.

Despite the defeat, Slot insisted that his team created more than enough chances to win the game.

“If you would have told me before the game that against the low block, against so many long balls, that we would have created as many chances as we did, I would not have expected us to lose,” he explained.

“But that is what we did. We had enough chances to score more than one goal, but on the other hand again conceding two, and one of the two was from a set piece,” the manager concluded, highlighting the ongoing issue of set-piece vulnerability in his squad.