Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, acknowledges the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool at London Stadium on November 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, acknowledges the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Liverpool at London Stadium on November 30, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Liverpool earned a 2-0 victory over West Ham United to ease the pressure on the head coach.
Arne Slot hailed the travelling Liverpool fans as ‘special’ for sticking with him during his toughest period as head coach.
The Reds head coach’s position has come under pressure despite engineering the club to the Premier League title last season in his maiden campaign. The sobering 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven condemned Liverpool to a ninth loss in 12 matches in all competitions, while many feel their defence of the English crown is over.
Still, Kopites travelled in their thousands for the trip to West Ham United. And they got their reward as Liverpool earned a much-deserved 2-0 triumph, with Alexander Isak netting his maiden Premier League goal since his £125m British record transfer before Cody Gakpo rounded off the win at full-time.
Slot’s name was chanted by the away end when the game was goalless, as well as after Liverpool took the lead and full-time. And the Anfield boss heaped praise on Kopites and believes that the support they offer in tough times is more special than when they serenaded him for delivering silverware.
What’s been said
Slot said at his post-match press conference: “It says a lot about the club and fans that they were not only supportive of me but the whole team. If you have such a run of form you are having and have an away game, and the away end is so full and supports the team from start to finish, including me, that is special.
“Not only after the 1-0 but 0-0 from start to finish. It tells you this club is always together but maybe even more in difficult moments and they appreciate even more what you have done for the club and support you and that is what makes the club special; to support someone when they are successful is easier than to support someone or a team when things are as tough as they are now.”
Gakpo’s goal was checked by VAR for handball before it was given. Slot admitted he thought the goal might be chalked off but told of his relief that it stood. The Dutchman also felt that Liverpool not conceding early was a chief reason why they delivered success.
“Relief, although I said immediately to my colleagues that it might be handball so I wasn’t surprised it took a while (to be confirmed),” added Slot. “I was happy when the referee pointed for the kick-off that it was 2-0.
“In terms of results, it is of course very good, but there were also a few things similar than recent games of ours and a few things that were different.
“The things similar were we couldn’t score our first chances, but the good thing was for the first time in many, many, many games, the first chance of the opponent didn’t go in as well. The best thing it was their only chance and it was after 90 minutes.
“It’s happened so many times to us that the first chance the opponent has, it goes in. Then you get a completely different game as we saw so many times now.
“Not conceding a set-piece and actually scoring from one as it came from a long throw, it took a while, but these are things that are so important if you want to win a game of football.
“People might say we had more control and didn’t concede as much but it makes quite a difference when you don’t go 1-0 down after five minutes and have to chase the game, at 0-0 you are controlling the game and at 1-0 you are in control even more.”
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