Slot urges Liverpool to be more consistent against Leverkusen

Arne Slot has urged Liverpool to perform better with and without the ball when they face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Reds had to come from behind to beat Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday, recovering from conceding an early goal thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah as they won 2-1.

So far, Slot has only lost one game in charge of Liverpool, and boasts a perfect record in the Champions League, though they sit second in the table behind fellow Premier League side Aston Villa on goal difference.

They are looking to win their opening four games in a single campaign of the competition for just the second time in their history, after 2021-22 under Jurgen Klopp (a run of seven), but Slot knows they need to make improvements if they want to beat the German champions.

“Football is played in two moments, having the ball and not. And against strong teams, Leverkusen is one, you need to be good on both sides,” Slot told a press conference on Monday.

“We were poor on both sides, not as good with or without [the ball] on Saturday against Brighton, so we need a second-half performance because Leverkusen are at least equal to Brighton with the ball. So we need a much better performance than the first half.”

Liverpool have lost one of their last 21 European meetings with German opponents (W14 D6), though that one defeat came against Leverkusen in 2002. They are unbeaten in 13 games since then (W10 D3).

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Xabi Alonso is looking to end that run as he returns to Anfield for the first time as a coach to take on his former side, who he helped win Europe’s elite club competition in 2005.

“It’s difficult to say what makes him a special manager if you don’t work with him, but he is, that is clear,” Slot said.

“Bottom of the league when he took over, didn’t spend much, bought one or two players, had that [kind of] season [where they won a domestic double having been unbeaten in the Bundesliga] – it’s special.

“I haven’t faced him [Alonso] or worked with him but what might be the situation is he worked with incredible managers in the past and played at the highest levels. So he knows what players feel at certain moments.”

Liverpool will be able to count on defender Ibrahima Konate, who returned to training after coming off at half-time against Brighton.

“He’s available to play, and I think also completely recovered, so there is no issue for him not to play because of what [happened],” Slot said.

“Then it’s up to me to make the decision if he plays or not. But he’s in a good place.”