Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds fans after the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on January 08, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds fans after the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on January 08, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Liverpool earned a 0-0 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium.
Arne Slot revealed he was surprised about the praise Liverpool’s performance received during their draw against Arsenal - claiming it was not different to recent games.
But Slot insists that there was not much of a change in Liverpool’s style as they stretched their unbeaten run of 10 matches in all competitions. Anfield head coach Slot said: “I am a bit surprised that people think this is a good performance because when we have 60 or 70 per cent ball possession against other teams people find it boring and now it is a good performance. But again we hardly created a chance and now we say, 'What a performance.' This is who were are - we can dominate possession, we know how to do build-up, but we struggle, obviously, in a few things.
“Set-pieces are one of them, dominating moments when we are in the final third, to find the right pass and the right execution, that is something that is still not at the level some other teams are and that's why we are working every single day.
“But yes, we did really well in ball possession, but for me it wasn't that much different than playing Leeds at home or Fulham away, where we dominated ball possession as well. But then people are annoyed that these teams are not of the magnitude of Arsenal [so] it is not good enough, which I completely agree on, by the way, because I want to see us creating more chances as well.
“In the second half I think we defended a little bit better in their first build-up, so that made it more difficult for them to dominate as much as they did in the first half, and we were even better on the ball or we did similar things like parts in the first half to dominate. But from all that ball possession, and that's not something new for someone who follows Liverpool, you're hoping for more chance creation. We were a lot of times very close, [but] shots and decision-making in the end, hit the bar in the first half. Just not enough to score a goal.
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