Despite rumours linking Alonso with his post, Slot was able to put them to the back of his mind as he led Liverpool to an impressive 3-0 win away at Marseille in the Champions League.
The Merseysiders are now well-poised to automatically qualify for the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition thanks to goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo, while Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli also put through his own net at Stade Velodrome.
Liverpool - who are currently unbeaten in their last 13 games in all competitions - entertain Azerbaijani outfit Qarabag on Wednesday, 28 January, with Slot’s side aware that a victory at Anfield will secure them a top-four position, therefore avoiding the knockout play-off round in February.
Speaking after the win over Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille - who are 19th in the Champions League standings and in danger of failing to qualify for the play-off phase - Slot said: “You know it is always very difficult to play against Marseille because of the passionate fans they have and the quality of the players. What makes it even harder is they have such a good manager (De Zerbi), who always lets his team play so well. We were prepared for that.
“I think in the first half you could see we took the ball three or four times off them in very promising situations, but we couldn't find the player that was completely free. We were in four-versus-three situations a few times and the one time we did find the player, it was fractionally offside.”