Liverpool are a perfect six wins from six matches in the new-look league phase of the [Champions League](https://www.sbnation.com/champions-league), and for at least five of those wins you couldn’t argue anything other than that they were full value for it.
Tuesday evening’s 1-0 victory over mid-table La Liga outfit Girona on the road, though, felt like something of a fortuitous result for Arne Slot’s Reds and the manager is in agreement that his side won while not at their best.
“If you ask me about all the six games, I’m really pleased with all the results,” Slot noted after the match. “I am really pleased with five games with the way we played. I’m far from pleased about the performance tonight.”
The problem for Liverpool from Slot’s point of view came back to a misfiring press, both too slow to trigger and then lacking coordination when it did, giving Girona time to build play and then holes to exploit when they broke.
“You need to be intense if you want to make it difficult for them,” Slot explained. “If you are waiting before you press and are outplayed when you do, then this team can cause you a lot of problems. That’s what they’ve shown.
“The other part was every time we lost the ball we were not aggressive enough, so they could almost every time go all the way to our goal. Hardly any control—maybe the second half was a bit better, but I am trying to be positive.”
While there may not have been many positives for Liverpool on Tuesday night aside from the three points they took home, one clear bright spot was the returning Alisson Becker, who Slot credited as his side’s top performer:
“I almost feel sorry for \[Girona\] because they deserved so much more in this Champions League campaign, but we have an incredible goalkeeper.”