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Ruben Amorim has insisted he ‘doesn’t care’ about Arne Slot’s comments following Liverpool’s defeat to Manchester United, despite the backlash the Reds boss has faced since.
United recorded a rare win at Anfield as they inflicted a fourth consecutive defeat on their biggest rival. Liverpool has since gone on to end its losing streak with a victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, although the fallout from last weekend’s encounter continues.
After the game, Slot made reference to United’s tactics as one of the reasons why his side had struggled, insisting it had been hard to “play against a low block and a team that plays so many long balls”.
His comments have received backlash from United fans and pundits, although Jamie Carragher did defend the Liverpool boss, insisting he had simply detailed what happened during the game.
Asked about Slot’s comments ahead of his side’s clash with Brighton this weekend, United boss Amorim was eager to brush them aside, and instead look ahead after winning back-to-back games for the first time since taking over at Old Trafford.
“Liverpool is in the past, I don’t want to comment,” Amorim said. “That is not important. Important is what Fabian [Hurzeler] said to try to understand what is going to happen [against Brighton].
“I understand everything. I am really pleased that the team can play different games.
“It was an important win, but I was the first one to say that we need to play better with the ball. So, I don’t care what Slot is saying, what people are saying about our team.
“I can evaluate my team and I am really clear that we should play better with the ball. We are going to try to do that in this game.”
Despite the backlash against him, Slot insisted during his own press conference on Friday that he never intended for his comments to be seen as a dig at Amorim or United.
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“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.”
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