Arne Slot reflects on the importance of September's 3-0 win over Manchester United in his Liverpool side's Premier League title-winning campaign
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, celebrates following the team's victory in the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC at Old Trafford on September 01, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Liverpool boss Arne Slot celebrates the win at Manchester United in September
(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Arne Slot has revealed how September's 3-0 win over Manchester United gave the Liverpool squad a belief that "something special" could be achieved this season. And the Reds' head coach has detailed just what caused his post-match eruption in February's Merseyside draw with Everton that eventually cost him £70,000, saying Goodison Park "was not a place to be calm in" at full-time.
The new champions beat United comfortably at Old Trafford in what was just Slot's third game in charge as two goals from Luis Diaz and a strike from Mohamed Salah sealed an important early-season victory.
And in a sit-down interview with The Athletic, Slot explained how the tactical tweaks he made for that particular fixture helped earn more trust from a new set of players due to the emphatic result.
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"Just recently some Dutch media asked me: ‘What was the game where you probably won the players over?’ I think it was this game because we changed some small details in the way we did our build up," Slot says.
"I said to them that United would be expecting Dominik Szoboszlai to play on the right. That they will have prepared all week for it, but he’s going to play on the left and we’re going to do this, this and this a bit different. Indeed exactly what I said happened.
"Did we win the game because of that reason? No. We scored two counter-attacks, maybe even three! But I think it was a day when the players thought: ‘Oh, what he’s trying to tell us works’.
"And to win 3-0 at Old Trafford gave us the confidence that there was maybe something special ahead of us."
Reflecting on the 2-2 draw in what was the final men's derby at Goodison Park against Everton, Slot added: "There were a lot of things that were hard to take in that extra (stoppage) time.
"I am usually quite calm. But the whole situation meant it was not a place to be calm in. Their fans were very loud with it being the last derby at their stadium. In extra-time, too, many things happened that were not okay. But we’re all human beings, we all make mistakes.
"We’re talking about the foul on Mo, we’re talking about the foul on Ibou (Konate), we’re talking about the fourth official who tells me there are only 60 seconds to play after there was an injury for them where he then gave the ball to them when we had the ball. That meant they could put another long ball in.
"They scored after 80 seconds. I could feel that the referee was waiting for the moment when we would kick the ball away. But after 60 seconds he should have blown the whistle. That was a bit too much, even for me!
"It felt at that moment in time like we had dropped two very important points. Looking back at it now, we have to thank Michael Oliver because that late goal meant we could win the title in our stadium (against Tottenham)."