Arne Slot has pinpointed time-wasting as the primary scourge tarnishing the Premier League, a tactic he believes has unfairly hindered Liverpool‘s otherwise stellar campaign.
Fresh from clinching the league title with ease, the Liverpool manager took the opportunity to vent about his chief grievance. Despite acknowledging that some teams have cleverly adjusted their strategies to challenge Liverpool‘s dominance, Slot is convinced that in the games where the Reds faltered – with eight draws and three losses in 36 matches – they were often hamstrung by a tactic that’s become all too common.
The Dutchman outlined his frustration: “Teams got to know us better and tried to find answers to our playing style.
“But one of the things you cannot do anything about is that tactics are being used that have nothing to do with football.
“Delaying the start of the game, pretending you are injured, taking one minute for a free-kick, one minute for a throw-in. That is my main worry.
“Every time we drop points, that happened… goalkeepers taking one and a half minutes.
“When we have dropped points, that tactic was used. I like to say it now after us winning the league, not losing a game.”
Slot’s irritation with time-wasting is evident, but he chose to wait until after securing the title before expressing his discontent with this increasingly pervasive issue.
Although Slot didn’t entirely agree with the timing of Ruben Dias’ comments following a goalless draw against struggling Southampton, he understood the reasoning behind them. Slot stated: “Ruben Dias said something about it too, which is not always the best moment to say it after dropping points. But for me he was right. Southampton can do what they want but I think we as a league must find an answer. People always tell you the Premier League is so intense, so intense! But there are tactics to slow the game down.
“I don’t wake up during the night but if I did I might be like … ‘S***! There’s no answer to be found to that type of play.'”.
Looking ahead to their match against Brighton and the forthcoming Europa League final between Manchester United and Spurs, Slot observed that English teams may increasingly dominate the Europa League due to changes in its format.
Slot commented: “I wouldn’t be surprised if in the upcoming years the Conference League and the Europa League finals will be dominated by English teams. Because in the past you could go as the number two of Italy or the number two of Spain and you could go back to the Europa League or to the Conference League level.
“But now it’s always the number four of Spain or the number five of Spain that has to play the number four or five or six of England. And I think England has a, money-wise, a big, big, big difference between the number five of Spain and the number five or six of England.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk