Liverpool manager Arne Slot has highlighted his side’s lack of clinical finishing as the reason for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield, Afrosport reports.
The Reds went down early after just 62 seconds, with Bryan Mbeumo finishing past Giorgi Mamardashvili. Though Cody Gakpo drew them level in the 78th minute, Harry Maguire headed in United’s winner six minutes later.
Liverpool created numerous chances to win the game, with Gakpo hitting the woodwork thrice before missing a free header late in the game, while Mohamed Salah squandered a good opportunity in the second half.
Speaking after the game, Slot was critical of the Reds’ finishing as they conceded from a set-piece for the fifth time in eight Premier League games this season.
“If you play United — who come here with a low block and playing a lot of long balls and you know that is going to be difficult as it’s not easy to play through them and you don’t get the chance to win the ball high up — and you concede after one or two minutes, it makes it harder,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports.
“And if you would have told me before the game that we were able to play against the low block with the quality players United have; against a team who play so many long balls, would we be able to create so many chances? I would have said: I would take that immediately. And it normally doesn’t lead to losing matches of football.
“But we did because we missed a lot. The few chances we’ve conceded led to two goals. It was again a set piece; it’s partly the reason why we lose this game.”
When asked if United’s first goal should have been cancelled, the Liverpool boss suggested otherwise, adding that they had no excuses for losing the game.
“If you lose a game of football, especially after you have lost four, maybe you should have the emotion in the game,” Slot added. “But I should not talk about that in that moment of time. No excuses.
“I don’t want to talk about that. We had so many chances that we needed to score more. And if you are 1-1 and the game is completely there for you and you have to defend one set piece, then we have to defend it better than we did.
“This is something we have to work on. And there’s emotion in the game about decisions. Every manager has this. But I will not talk about this.”
The result meant Liverpool have lost four consecutive games across all competitions for the first time since November 2014 and dropped to fourth place in league table, four points behind leaders Arsenal.
Slot’s men will quickly switch their attention to the Champions League, where they face Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday before taking on Brentford in the league next Saturday.
