Here’s all your latest Liverpool FC news to catch up on. Is that Arne Klopp or Arne Slot?
Slot channels his inner Klopp
Former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher spoke about Slot’s touchline demeanour after the game.
“Slot is not as emotional as Klopp, but he got wrapped up in the game today,” he said on Sky Sports.
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“It was the first Anfield atmosphere he’s been involved in. When Liverpool were under the cosh, you could see his reaction when Darwin Nunez got a foul given against him, you could see he showed elements of Jurgen Klopp – but he is a different manager.
“I think what the supporters are enjoying is that he is being himself. He is not trying to play up to being someone else.”
Mac Allister’s mum speaks
There was a bit of confusion when Curtis Jones was named in his place for yesterday’s game against Chelsea.
Head coach Arne Slot had previously explained that Mac Allister was a ‘a bit ill’ on the flight back, but in facing such a tough opponent he would surely not have changed his starting XI if he didn’t absolutely need to.
The silver lining was that Curtis Jones was the best player on the pitch against Chelsea, slotting into Mac Allister’s inside-left midfield space and even bagging himself a goal for his troubles. Mac Allister replaced him in the 82nd minute, bringing about even more questions as to why the decision was made.
But comments made by his mother, Silvina Riela, in an interview for Argentinian new channel C5Nshed some light.
“Recently, Liverpool didn’t want him to travel because he had a minor discomfort, but he insisted on coming,” explained Silvina.
“He spoke with the coach to come because, as I see it, it’s like he’s coming to see his friends here. It’s like he’s coming to his group here, and he feels it necessary to come.”
Arne Slot on Mo Salah’s position
The debate surrounding Trent Alexander-Arnold’s potential replacement at Liverpool has ranged from denial to anger to bargaining and the rest.
If the right-back does decide not to renew his contract with the club, a very specific skillset will be absent in the team and will be decidedly difficult to replace.
Jeremie Frimpong and Denzel Dumfries are names that have been bandied around as the potential next right-back at Anfield but, as it turns out, the Chelsea game demonstrated that the ideal replacement is already on Liverpool’s books.
“I said to Trent you have some competition now because I saw today that Mo [Salah] can play as a right full-back as well!” joked head coach Slot in his post-match press conference.
“The defensive effort he put in today to help the team in that part is what pleased me just as much as his goal and assist.”
Curtis Jones’s warning
Curtis Jones probably thought the birth of his child was the best thing that was going to happen to him this week.
And it definitely was. But a man of the match performance against Chelsea is a close second. Jones was everywhere at Anfield on Sunday, filling in on the inside-left of midfield for Alexis Mac Allister.
And he paid tribute to his daughter after scoring Liverpool’s winner, doing a thumb-sucking motion and pointing up to the stands.
Afterwards, Jones took to social media to voice his pleasure.
‘Statement!” his tweet read, “More to come, onto the next.” accompanied by four pictures of himself in action.
Arne Slot chasing Klopp’s record
Liverpool’s form so far this season has them running at a rate where they will fall just short of the points record set by Manchester City in the 2017/18 season, where they reached 100 points.
Slot’s side are currently on 21 points after eight games – 2.625 per game.
Continuing at this pace would bag them 99.75 points this season, which would match their record for points in a single Premier League season. That came in the remarkable 2019/2020 campaign, of course, with the Reds strolling to the title.
There was a sense that the record was unbeatable, given just how near-perfect Liverpool were across particularly the first half of the season. While there’s a long way to go, Slot is on course to at least match it.
And in his first campaign.