Arne Slot says he’s proud of Liverpool’s record-breaking start to his reign — but insists winning trophies is what really matters to him.
Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League means that Liverpool have won 11 of their opening 12 games in a season for the first time in the club’s history.
It’s also the first time a Liverpool side have won six successive away games at the start of a campaign.
“We should be proud because so many great teams have worn this shirt and so many great managers have been at the club, so to achieve something that hasn’t been done before is almost impossible and always nice,” Slot said.
“But there is something that is much nicer than records and you know what I mean by that — trophies.”
Darwin Nunez’s first-half goal was enough to secure maximum points at the Red Bull Arena with Liverpool in control for long periods before absorbing some pressure late on.
“I don’t think we started the game very well but after the first 15 minutes I liked a lot of what I saw,” Slot added.
“We played through their press and opened up attacks many times, which led to the first goal and many other chances. It is a pity at the end of a game like that when you need big roles from your two centre-backs and goalkeeper. A game like that should have been ours after 60 to 70 minutes.
“It is good to see all of our players scoring. In the lead up Cody (Gakpo) and Mo (Salah) were just as important as Darwin. But Darwin was strong, comfortable on the ball, fighting if he had to defend, and he made it very difficult for the two centre-backs of Leipzig.
“If you play a big team away they will always have moments. I liked that in this game we had total dominance like in all the other games apart from Chelsea. I was more worried after Chelsea. This was much more how I like to see my team play. We had much more ball possession.”
Slot revealed that Salah was taken off just past the hour mark with one eye on Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash at Arsenal.
“It is a tough fixture list. Curtis Jones was the same, he hasn’t played 90 minutes yet,” he added.
”We have some injuries now so I have to take care of the players. Sunday is a big game coming up and I need to use as many players as I can for these tough months.”
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: RB Leipzig 0 Liverpool 1 – Rampaging Nunez, Liverpool go three from three and Leipzig stutter
(Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
