Liverpool manager Arne Slot is critical about the effectiveness of the placing in the new UEFA Champions League league phase format, calling it “weird”, Afrosport reports.
The Reds are currently top of the 36-team format which will see the top eight automatically progress to the round of 16 while those who finish ninth to 24th will battle in a two-leg playoff to determine the remaining eight teams and teams that finish 25th to 36th will be eliminated.
Liverpool will take on Lille at Anfield on Tuesday night and while victory will all but guarantee they finish top of the standings, Slot does not believe it translates to his team being the best in the phase.
“So, I’m not looking at the league table in a way of, ‘If we are No.1 we probably have the easiest team to face’ because that is impossible to say because of this weird format; ‘weird’ I don’t mean in a negative way, but this strange format we are having now,” he said.
“Being on top maybe doesn’t tell you you’re the best team. Being 24th maybe doesn’t tell you you’re No.24 in terms of quality. It has a lot to do with the teams you faced. So, we want to win but not from an idea about [that] it will probably give us then the best lead-up for the rest of the campaign.”
Liverpool have won all their Champions League games and Slot wants to see his team maintain a winning record in all competitions.
“We want to keep it going to the end, and win every single game. We just want to add top eight. We know we need a point for that. But this team has never gone out playing for a point.
“Every single game we have played, be it at Old Trafford or Arsenal, we have not changed our style. That’s what we want to do [against Lille] again. We always play for the win.”
Up next: MD7 in the @ChampionsLeague ✨ pic.twitter.com/VJqfROSo3b
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Liverpool will conclude their Champions League league phase campaign away at PSV Eindhoven next Wednesday but before that will face Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.
