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Arne Slot has said he was impressed with Liverpool’s mentality in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid, but called on his side to play with greater urgency throughout games.
The Reds’ penchant for sealing matches courtesy of 90th-minute winners came to the fore once again at Anfield as Liverpool’s Champions League campaign got under way. It had started at blistering pace, with Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah handing Slot’s side a two-goal advantage inside six minutes.
While the Reds created more openings, they failed to take them, and also allowed Atletico to wield greater authority over proceedings. That came back to bite Liverpool when Marcos Llorente netted twice to restore parity.
It took another injury-time winner to seal three points. This time, Virgil van Dijk provided the crucial moment, heading in the winner in front of the Kop, sparking a touchline melee that saw Diego Simeone receiving a red card.
Slot, on the other hand, was thrilled with the attitude and spirit shown by his players. “If you want to beat a team like Atletico, you have to beat them with their weapon as well, and that is mentality,” he told TNT Sports after the game.
“I think that's what we showed again today, that we can beat them also by mentality. But I think we should have made it easier for ourselves. At 2-0, first half, we got more than a few chances to make the third.
“At 2-1, second half, we hit the post, we were so close a few times. Yeah, if the margin is only one goal, something can always happen, and it happened. But then again, we showed the mentality because I think in the 10 minutes that still had to be played, we were pushing, and in the end we scored.”
On the start to the game, Slot added: “It didn't happen too much with us this season that we were tuning up after six minutes. But I think it's clear that if we feel urgency, then we're unbelievable.
“And now we have to make sure that we feel this urgency. Ninety minutes, don't even look at the score, just feel this urgency every second. I could remember great combination with Florian [Wirtz] and Alex [Isak], which was so close to a goal and we had so many of these moments.”
The general consensus on Liverpool’s early-season form is that while performances have been lacking, there’s optimism that the team keeps finding ways to win. Slot talked up his side ahead of the game, but post-match said he wants to see his players find more balance.
“I see so many good things during games, but I also sometimes see that in moments we give away something.
“So the last two games we kept a clean sheet, hardly giving away anything. But it wasn't a complete surprise to me that they [Atletico] scored [to make it] 2-1 after 45 minutes because I felt that they were coming a little bit more throughout the course of the first half.
“So many good moments. But we need to find that balance between keeping those great moments but don't give away too much as we did in the end phase of the first round.”
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