2 weeks ago
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Jamie Carragher expressed his frustration with how Arne Slot spoke glowingly about Pep Guardiola as though he were his "hero" before Liverpool's heavy defeat to Manchester City.
The Reds were thrashed 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium ahead of the November international break, leaving them stranded in eighth place.
The loss to Guardiola's side, marking his 1,000th match as a manager, means Liverpool has now been defeated in seven of its past 10 fixtures across all competitions. Slot has witnessed his revamped squad overwhelmed in numerous encounters, with Carragher outlining the reasons behind the team's struggles while highlighting his excessively complimentary remarks about Guardiola.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, he said: "If we’re being totally honest, in the games they've lost, they can't handle the physicality of the Premier League this season, they can't.
"When you think of teams that lack something, they normally let you down away from home against teams that have a physical game. I think Arne Slot wants to move Liverpool [forward].
"Even though they won the league, every game went to the wire. He almost wants more football. When you heard him speak about Paris Saint-Germain last season, he was like, 'Oh my god, that's the football I want.'
"So when he played Man City last week, he was talking like Pep [Guardiola] was his hero, and he probably is for a lot of coaches. That is his football."
Much of the pre-match discussion focused on Guardiola's historic milestone, but Slot went to considerable lengths in praising his opposite number.
He told Sky Sports before the game: "You're always looking forward to watching his team play.
"When you are analyzing every opponent, it's always nice when you play against his teams because then you have the privilege to watch five, six, seven games of his team and you never get bored.
"At least I never get bored because his team always have a very good and clear idea in ball possession, they always try to make the people happy. It's a joy to watch where so many other games are not, in my opinion, a joy to watch anymore."
Slot added: "The Barcelona team was unbelievable. Hoping they would play on a Sunday night at 8pm, so there was one thing to look forward to at the end of the weekend. Then when he went to his other teams, he also invented new things like the inverted full-back.
"It's always something special if you watch a game on one of his teams. A lot of managers win, but in the style he has won his trophies, that is why he stands out compared to many others.
"I wonder if there are many managers that start their career now that will reach 1,000 [games], especially at the level he's worked at, because it was probably already very hard to achieve that and there's a lot of sacrifices coming with that."
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