Slaughter: Liverpool need to defend well, the decrease in chances is due to the change in opponent s style

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Li Jingyi

The league war has reignited. The highlight of the 8th round of the Premier League is naturally the "Double Red Club" between Liverpool and Manchester United at home. The old rivals each have their own concerns: Slott wants to end the longest losing streak of his coaching career (three); Amorim wants his first consecutive victory since joining the Red Devils. One of the focuses of public opinion is whether the Netherlands will take the initiative to seek changes and regain balance and inspiration for the unbalanced team.

In the pre-match press conference, Slott took the lead in updating the injury: "Grafenberch is completely healthy. Konate has returned to the team and is expected to participate in training today. Alisson has not trained and cannot play. It is difficult to give a date for his return because In the final recovery stage, there may be positive or negative changes, but it is certain that he will not play on the weekend or next week."

Liverpool won the championship steadily with a solid start this season, and fell into a ranking battle with Arsenal, losing the top spot. Slaughter compared the similarities and differences in the start of the two seasons and emphasized that the problem is not goals scored, but goals conceded: "Compared to last season, the number of chances we created is indeed lower than the same period. We are still the team that creates the most expected goals (xG) and shots on target through open attacks, but we concede too many goals . We conceded 9 goals and 4 goals from set pieces, but this does not truly reflect the opportunities we gave our opponents. The remaining 5 goals came from quick counterattacks and sports battles. We also allowed our opponents to pass too many passes, which must be improved now. "

Salah is in a sluggish state, and the media continues to torture the coach: Do you have the courage to rest "Pharaoh"? The "Red Army" coach has no intention of assigning the responsibility for the three-game losing streak to the number one star: "When you lose three games in a row wearing a Liverpool jersey, no matter who the next opponent is, you must respond. Not just Salah, but all players. "

Last season against Manchester United, which was at a low point, the coach once praised the team's actual level as much higher than the performance in the standings. Now the Red Devils are still struggling, and Leeds has also fallen into a bottleneck. How does the Dutch coach view the importance of the confrontation between the two teams? "I'm looking forward to every Premier League game, but probably especially the clash with Manchester United, because I know the significance of this game. We know very well that this is probably one of the most watched games in the world. We have to perform at our best, because in my opinion, Manchester United's start to the season is worse than the standings show." A way must be found to deal with it. The first priority is to finish conceding goals. If the opponent scores one or two goals, we have to score three. In the first half of last season, we mainly relied on the highlight performance of the three frontcourt players to score goals. In the second half of the season, we relied more on set pieces against our opponents. This season we have lacked those moments and we have not been able to score from set pieces. Obviously, as a team aiming to win the championship, conceding 4 set-piece goals is too many. "

Isak, who represented the Swedish team, failed to play during the international match. Slaughter believes that this can be regarded as the Swedish center's personal pre-season preparation process: "He has now completed five to six weeks of pre-season preparation, and his physical fitness has returned to its proper level. From now on, we can make a more fair evaluation of his performance. His pre-season period has ended and he has played a few games. We will see his specific state in the next few weeks."

From consecutive wins to defeats by opponents, Liverpool's victory and defeat are all within a hair's breadth, Slott reflected. : "In 10 games, we had 7 wins and 3 losses, and all three losses were by a goal difference. Twice at the last minute, both teams received penalty kicks that should have been overturned by VAR, but only our penalty kick was changed. It was really a hairpin difference. But I always emphasize that I We should not rely on this small gap. The results do not lie. We know this and must take action after suffering three consecutive losses."

How does Slott balance the two while maintaining the vitality of the lineup? "Like Isaac and McAllister, we need to gradually increase the playing time. It is impossible to jump from no playing to three games a week. Teams all over the world are facing the same schedule problem, and they all have more than 11 players to deal with the schedule. The problem is that if you win by rotation, people will praise you for using your troops wisely, and vice versa. They will advise you to start every game. There was an example of this before the international break. Isaac and Ekitikai are not the same type of players, but they are both No. 9 and know how to participate in our system. "

In the loss to Chelsea, Salah was blamed for his poor defense and was the culprit. Sloter was helpless: "I heard Cucurella's comments and watched the scoring process. But I can also show you five or six moments when Salah could have changed the situation. If those opportunities were seized, you and I would be discussing the importance of Salah now, just like many times last season. There needs to be a balance between the winger and the full-back, and I also want my full-back to participate in the attack. We have to find To get the right balance."

In order to regain his best form, Federico Chiesa voluntarily dropped out of the Italian team's lineup. Slott saw the diligence of the Italian forward and was determined to reward him in equal measure: "I think maybe this time, because he has proven that he deserves more appearances with his recent performances, you may see this more intuitively on Sunday."

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