Liverpool’s coach rules out congested schedule as cause for poor results in first leg of last-16 rounds
Arne Slot believes it is unfair to judge the strength of English clubs in Europe with only a single round of Champions League knockout matches.
Of the nine Premier League clubs that played in the first legs of their last-16 ties across the three competitions in Europe, only one came out with a win. Aston Villa beat Lille 1-0 in the Europa League but every other side either drew or lost.
It has kicked up a dust of opinions, with some arguing the league is not as strong as it claims to be, and others suggesting the demands of the English game have led to exhaustion at the critical stage.
“To jump to a conclusion after one gameday, I think that is such a small sample size that is never the smartest thing to do because maybe, after the next week, we will have a different conclusion,” Slot said.
The Liverpool coach admitted the congested nature of the English football calendar could cause problems for teams but disagreed that it was the reason behind poor results.
“In general I think it is not helpful for English clubs not to have a winter break but I am not saying that all these teams have lost because we don’t have a winter break,” Slot said.
“Why? Because you are facing in the last 16 of Europe good teams and four of the five teams in the Champions League played away from home. It is usually an advantage to play at home and a disadvantage to play away.”
Another thing worth noting, according to Slot, is the quality of the opposition. Liverpool’s manager believes teams could lose simply because they faced very good opponents.
“One of the things is definitely also is that if you are in the Champions League last 16 all the teams are good and strong teams,” said Slot. “And if you play four of the five teams away from home and the margins were quite as small as our own game – I thought we didn’t deserve to lose – Arsenal the margins were really small but I didn’t see the 3-0 coming when I saw the first half of City v Real Madrid.
“The only one I didn’t see was Paris St Germain v Chelsea but people told me Chelsea were very involved in that game and didn’t deserve to lose 5-2. Jumping to conclusions on one game is usually not what I would do.”
