Arne Slot explains controversial Liverpool comments and makes admission about 'new' Premier League

Arne Slot has been speaking ahead of Liverpool taking on Man City in the Premier League this weekend, with the Reds boss explaining comments he made earlier in the week

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has explained the comments he made earlier in the week regarding playing style being more important than trophies, which caused controversy in some quarters.

What Slot meant was that one element leads to the other and that the process of developing a team cannot simply be about winning in the short-term. However, some fans felt that he was playing down the significance of collecting silverware.

"If you don't play good football, it's [almost] impossible to win something or to achieve something sustainable," Slot told Sky Sports ahead of his team taking on Manchester City at Anfield this Sunday.

"We never do time-wasting. We always want to press high. We always want to bring the ball out from the back. But unfortunately, we face teams that have a different approach, which is completely fair for them.

"Every team should play their style, which is best equipped for playing against us, and it's shown that we are sometimes struggling with that style.

"It's not always possible for a team to get pace in the game or to get things going if the other team tries to do everything to get that pace out of the game.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Kate McShane/Getty Images)

"When we play more open games this season, we've shown that we always want to be part of a game like that, and we've done really well. But games where we've dropped points had a different look and feel, but that's not what we wanted it to be, but what was forced to us.

"Now, the next step is making sure that if that playing style is forced on us, we are that good that we can change that towards the game we want.

"That's something new in the Premier League. Not only in our games, this is something that you see a lot. This is what we have to accept and find the right answer to."

Slot has spoken all season about the need to find a way to play against teams that are set up to frustrate Liverpool. In the last few weeks, there have been some signs of that happening.

"I didn't expect the league to be as it is this season, because I was here last season and for me that was completely different," Slot admitted.

"Maybe once, twice, three times we saw similar things as we are seeing this season, but this season it has been a massive, massive, massive change."

Liverpool.com says: Facing low blocks and teams that are very adept at set-pieces has proven to be a problem for the Reds this season, but Slot has to find a way of solving that issue. It is not up to other teams to change to suit the way Liverpool plays.

It does, in fairness, seem like some key players are starting to get used to the demands of the English game. Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, for instance, have been in great form in the last few weeks.