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Arne Slot has insisted he complimented Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim despite facing backlash for his comments following Liverpool’s defeat last weekend.
The Reds boss has faced criticism after he pointed to United’s tactics as one of the reasons for his side’s 2-1 loss at Anfield.
"If you told me that we would play against a low block and a team that plays so many long balls, that we would be able to create so many chances, I would think that we wouldn't lose the game, but we did, because we missed a lot,” Slot said in an interview after the game.
His comments were defended by Jamie Carragher earlier this week, with the former Liverpool defender suggesting that Slot was merely telling the truth about the game.
Rival fans though have ridiculed the Reds boss online - despite that, Slot stuck to his guns when he spoke during his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Brentford about the challenge his side has faced in their title defense so far.
“I've looked at how many long balls we already had to defend, 178 in seven games. And then United came and we had to defend 59 long balls,” Slot said. “That's different than the first half of last season. Not as the second part of last season, but as the first half.
“The way to unlock it is a moment of magic, which we had in the first half of the season a lot with Mo [Salah], or a set-piece, which we had at Frankfurt as well, because that again was a low block, but two set-pieces unlocked the game for us.
“So this is what I tried to explain to them, and when I tried to explain this in the media, what I tried to do after the game, it was actually more of a compliment for the other manager that he found the right answer to our playing style. But I think, if I'm correct, that wasn't how people looked at it.”
Pressed further on whether he needs to change his side’s approach, Slot added: “Why I said for the first time what I said after the United game - people ask me why was it difficult today, then if that is your question, I have to answer it, and the answer lies in the tactics of the other manager, which is a compliment to him.
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“But why I didn't do that before, because I thought it's quite obvious that they’ll do it for a long time now, but I'm not 100 percent sure if every manager that we're going to face in the upcoming weeks knows this.
“But at a certain moment, it's so clear, everybody does this. And even now I've heard that when we played Frankfurt, there were talks between their staff and [Crystal Palace boss Oliver] Glasner, who worked there of course, and he explained to them their way of playing, which is normal that these things happen.
“Yes, we have to adjust, and that's what we've tried to do. That's also what I've told the players, and I can say this here as well. The last two times we faced a 5-4-1 against Palace and against United, we've created more chances than we did every single time we faced a 5-4-1 last season, low block.
“The reason for that is that we've tried to adjust a few things in our playing style as well, and against Frankfurt, we again faced a 5-4-1, where I adjusted maybe even more. But that's not to say that was the reason that we created so much, because we created already a lot against United and against Palace as well.
“We have to find answers to that, and we're not the first team that this happens to. [Manchester] City experienced this for so many years, and they are very, very, very good at playing in these tight spaces, and this is something that we need to do even better than we're already doing.”
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