Arne Slot has admitted Liverpool must sharpen their edge from set-pieces after seeing several key chances go begging this season.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, the Reds boss pointed to close calls from Ibrahima Konate in recent matches but stressed that luck has not yet turned in their favour.
“What I just said, we’ve been very close to scoring [from] set-pieces this season already,” Slot explained. “Ibou [Konate], a big chance against Galatasaray and a big chance against Palace. So, I’m very happy about the amount of chances we generate from set-pieces, but we haven’t scored yet and is that luck, bad luck?”
The Dutchman admitted Liverpool may have been “a bit unlucky” so far but acknowledged that if the issue persists, it could point to deeper problems. He underlined the difference between open-play goals in the first and second halves of last season, suggesting opposition teams have started to adapt to the Reds’ style.
“The first part of last season Jurgen [Klopp] gave me a lot of gifts but one of the gifts he also gave me was ending up third the year before and fifth the year before and him being so well known that a new manager came in and everybody thought, ‘Oh, let’s start to play against Liverpool’!
“And teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league after half of the season and when we were top of the Champions League after the first part of the season.”
Slot stressed that Liverpool must now find fresh answers to break down low blocks, with set-pieces often proving decisive in such situations.
“We have to find answers to that. Last season, one of the answers was a set-piece, like many teams unlock a low block with set-pieces. And this season we haven’t done that yet.”
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