Liverpool Dutch head coach, Arne Slot, has expressed “relief” after his side struggled to grab all three points in the Premier League 2025/26 clash against Burnely at Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon.
In his post-Burnley comments, slot said, “in the second half I felt we were better and better and better and we came closer and closer and closer.”
Thanks to Mohamed Salah’s stoppage time strike from the penalty spot, the Premier League 2024/25 winners were able to go home with a clean sheet.
The Dutchman said, it was difficult for the Reds to break through because Burnley played with 11 players in their 18-yard box.
According to Liverpool official website, Arne Slot said:
On his frets about getting another late win or the winning goal coming late…
“A bit of both. I know how hard it is to create chances against a team that’s with 11 players in their 18-yard box. It’s by the way very good that they do this because they’ve almost got a point so I’m not saying anything negative about it, I’m just trying to explain how difficult it is against a Premier League team because they are very good players as well.
“[There were] no really open chances, so a draw was probably what we expected throughout the game but we tried also with the substitutions we made to bring all the players we have that can attack on the pitch.
“So, relief. Lucky.”
On whether he thought about replacing Salah or fielding more attackers…
“If you need a goal and things are not going really well – although in the second half I felt we were better and better and better and we came closer and closer and closer – but I thought about almost every substitution.
“But against a team that plays with 11 players in their own 18-yard box that’s not, I think, a big risk then and that’s why we decided to do that.
“And taking Mo off – if you need a goal, it will probably happen this season or maybe next season, but it probably won’t happen a lot.”
On Alexander Isak…
“No, he did recovery but he had a hard and tough session yesterday. We got him from Newcastle, he needs proper minutes of training before he has a certain base, let alone for him to play twice in three days.
“Now, Alex is far from ready for that schedule of three games in a week, 90 minutes. But then we could use him today for five minutes and then Wednesday again 10, and then 15, but we don’t believe that is the way to build him up.”
Photo: Liverpool head coach, Arne Slot | X/Liverpool FC
