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Arne Slot expressed his delight with Hugo Ekitike's performance, whose "special" goal helped Liverpool to a commanding 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
The Reds brought their dreadful sequence of four consecutive defeats to an emphatic end with their most impressive showing of the season at Deutsche Bank Park, setting themselves up perfectly for Saturday's journey to Brentford in the Premier League.
Following Rasmus Kristensen's opener, Ekitike surged through Frankfurt's entire half after collecting Andy Robertson's pass to level matters for the visitors, before Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate both found the net from corner kicks.
Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai added the finishing touches in the second half, with Slot particularly impressed by how summer signing Ekitike fared against his previous employers.
"The first goal he scored was special," Liverpool manager Slot commented.
"You can see the space in the moment like this and these are all the moments you are hoping for before the game. We were able to create many, many, many chances, but unfortunately we were not always able to score them [lately].
"Today with Alex (Isak) and Hugo, we had two on the pitch who are usually able to score goals. Alex was a few times close, but had to go off at half time, that is not something you ask for. That's the difficult balance with him.
"Both of them did what I was hoping for, making runs in behind, making sure they are a big threat. And both of them did well.
"I wouldn't say Hugo [has adapted] the quickest but he has done well for us every time he plays. But the focus is maybe on goals and assists - which he has done well for us - but there are other parts of the game which are needed to win a game of football.
"I saw players working really hard for them to create one or two counters and one of them we scored, which is a main part of our game. Hugo had a big chance and scored, Alex had a few, didn't score yet but unfortunately had to go off at half time."
Slot also disclosed what he discussed with midfielder Szoboszlai during their touchline conversation, where tactical adjustments were made to help the Premier League champions press more efficiently.
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Slot continued: "The topic [of the conversation with Szoboszlai] was that my team and myself watched six or seven or eight games against the opponents and not once did they play like this.
"We expected a 4-4-2, we weren't expecting a 5-2-3. The good thing is it's quite familiar to us, Crystal Palace play it, Manchester United play it, Burnley play it.
"So I had to adjust a little bit how we wanted to press, so that was the conversation with Dominik, who again put in a good performance again. He is one of the players, after Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah, who made the most appearances for me. So that tells you what I think about him.
"We needed the win and what we needed more was another game where the players created the chances but that the players get the reward with a win. And that is what happened today.
"I saw a lot of similarities today compared to other games because the first chance they got today was immediately a goal and maybe that was their only chance today. We went 3-1 up and controlled it because it is easier to control than 1-0 down.
"But the main difference with this to the four games before was most of the other teams scored set-pieces and now we scored set-pieces, so we are able to focus more on the attacks in the second half than misplaced passes, which we had today, but if you are 3-1 up you are judged differently than 1-0 down."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.
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