Manager admits relief at ending run of defeats with victory at West Ham
Arne Slot has rejected claims that he dropped Mohamed Salah due to poor form. Against West Ham on Sunday, Liverpool’s manager dropped the Egyptian in the league for the first time since he took over the squad last summer.
Slot said: “Mo has had an unbelievable career at this club and will have a very good future at this club because he’s such a special player.
“With four games in 10 days and only 14 to 15 outfield players available, you have to decide once in a while to make a certain line-up.”
A team under strain after nine defeats in 12 matches across all competitions tightened up enough to collect three badly needed points at the London Stadium. Goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo stopped the losing run and eased some of the pressure that has built around Slot in recent weeks.
“It was important just to win,” Slot said. “There were also a few things similar to other games of ours and a few things that were different. The things that were similar were that, again, we couldn’t score our first chances.
“The good thing was that today, for the first time in many, many, many games, the first chance of the opponent didn’t go in as well.
Isak’s opener was his first league goal since arriving in a high-profile summer move from Newcastle United. Slot defended the striker’s barren run.
“The focus on his lack of goals is a bit unfair to him,” Slot said. “In general a number nine plays more minutes than I’ve played Alex until now because of the obvious reasons.”
