Arne Slot was delighted with Mohamed Salah’s man of the match display in the 2-0 Champions League win over Bologna at Anfield.
The Egyptian provided the assist for Alexis Mac Allister’s early opener before doubling the lead after the break to become the first Liverpool player to score in five consecutive home games in the Champions League.
“What can I say about Mo?” said Slot. “What you saw today is what you get. If you bring him often enough in positions like this, he can score a goal. He had a great assist as well.
“If you look at the way he scores it, I can understand everyone is talking about the finish because it was a fantastic finish. He almost had the same one just before.
“But it wouldn’t do it justice to Virgil (van Dijk), to Diogo (Jota), to Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) and to Trent (Alexander-Arnold), if we only talk about the great finish because Virgil played a fantastic ball through, Diogo dropped, turned, Dom was again involved – he was involved in the first goal as well – and Trent made a crucial overlapping run because that opened up the space on the inside for Mo to do what Mo always does.”
Record Breaker: Arne Slot became the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first nine games
Ryan Gravenberch has been a revelation this season at the base of the Liverpool midfield. After putting in yet another stellar performance against Bologna, Slot was full of praise for his countryman.
“He was outstanding again today, Ryan, with his dribbling ability,” said Slot.
“That was important against this team but if we only focus on the dribbles he had we forget maybe how important he is without the ball, where he does a lot of work and wins a lot of second balls as well.”
Darwin Nunez on the other hand, has been in the headlines after a poor start to the season. The Uruguayan was substituted on the hour mark for Diogo Jota, but Slot insisted it’s unfair to criticise his lack of starts and recent performances for the Reds.
He said: “I don’t look at it in the way you do that only focuses on the individual.
“I think in the first hour we didn’t create a lot of chances for him as well because we missed out on the last pass on numerous occasions and if we would have done better it probably would have led to chances for him as well.”
Slot set a new record of his own on Wednesday night as the win over Bologna saw him become the first Liverpool manager to win eight out of his opening nine games.
Playing down his early achievements, the Reds boss isn’t letting the accolade get to him as he insisted he didn’t want to just be “The manager who won eight out his nine games”.
The Dutchman has impressed since replacing the hugely popular Jurgen Klopp in the summer, stepping into what some saw as an impossible job. Slot was quick to pay tribute to his predecessor, emphasising his early success hasn’t been solely down to him.
He said: “It also says a lot about how Jürgen left this club, the squad I inherited, how much work-rate the players put in and how much my staff members are helping me to get these results.”
