Arne Slot has paid tribute to his defenders following Liverpool’s latest emphatic win over West Ham United.
The Reds thrashed the Hammers 5-0 at the London Stadium on Sunday evening thanks to goals from Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.
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The latter has come in for huge praise after a masterclass performance that also saw him provide to excellent assists.
Salah now leads the way in the Premier League for both goals (17) and assists (13) this season, sitting three clear of any other player in each category.
However, it’s not Salah being thanked by Slot for this latest victory.
Instead, it is a Liverpool defence — that included a superb stand-in performance from Jarell Quansah, who replaced the injured Joe Gomez in the 37th minute — that kept their eighth clean sheet of the season, with no team keeping more.
“[Clean sheets] are one of the reasons why you win a lot. If every time you have to score two, three or four goals it is difficult, at the moment we do but it is not sustainable for a longer period of time. Sometimes you need a win by keeping a clean sheet and scoring one or two,” Slot said of a Liverpool defence that has conceded just 17 goals in 18 Premier League games this season (via BBC Sport).
“At the end, we did not need our clean sheet but it is always good for the confidence of the back line and goalkeepers.
“If a player makes a sprint then asks to go out we know it is a hamstring and it will not take one or two days to fix. The positive thing was that Joe [Gomez]’s replacement Jarrell Quansah played an amazing game. That shows how important the squad is.”
Of course, on another day, West Ham could have made this match more complicated, hitting the woodwork three times.
What’s more, Liverpool’s 6-3 win over Spurs is still fresh in the memory, conceding two quick goals after leading 5-1.
Sunday’s shutout ended a five-game run without one in domestic play, with Liverpool now becoming accustomed to blowing teams away with their attacking might.
So, even with a strong defensive display, Slot knows his side rode a little bit of luck.
“Yeah [lots of goals] but loads of chances as well. It was 3-0 at half time but soon after that, we could have scored three,” the Dutchman added.
“On the other side, it was good that not every chance that they had went in, they had two or three, one hit the post and one hit the bar. Against Leicester, they had one chance and scored. We were a bit unlucky that we did not score in the first few minutes but as well we were lucky that at 1-0, Kudus hit the post.”
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