Steven Gerrard offered measured praise for Arne Slot after the manager\u2019s side secured victory over Marseille, while also urging the coach to drop a recurring complaint. Slot had, once again, highlighted the difficulties his team faces when opposing sides sit deep, a theme he raised following Wednesday\u2019s Champions League win and after Burnley earned a 1\u20131 draw at Anfield last weekend.<\/p>\n
The Burnley game produced a chorus of boos from the home crowd but left a clear impression on Slot. The former Feyenoord tactician has repeatedly flagged the challenge of facing massed ranks and returned to the point after the Marseille result. \u201cI know why we\u2019re not consistent and that is mainly to do when a game is open, it is completely different than playing against a low block,\u201d Slot told TNT Sports. \u201cYou cannot compare that with the game tonight when both teams want to press and play out from the back. If we\u2019re inconsistent, it\u2019s because we struggle with low blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerrard, speaking as a pundit for the same network, acknowledged the validity of Slot\u2019s tactical concerns but urged restraint. \u201cHe needs to stop mentioning low blocks,\u201d Gerrard fretted when speaking as a pundit for the same network. \u201cLow blocks have been happening against Liverpool since I was playing. That\u2019s just the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
That criticism was balanced with clear recognition of Slot\u2019s success on the night. \u201cI\u2019m really pleased for him,\u201d the former club captain admitted. \u201cIt can\u2019t be easy when you\u2019re under that pressure. His tactics were spot on tonight. He deserves a lot of praise and credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion extended to Jamie Carragher, who questioned Slot about the team\u2019s setup on television. \u201cArne, can I ask about the setup tonight,\u201d Carragher asked the Reds boss in his role as a CBS pundit. \u201cThe last few months you\u2019ve tried to make the team get better and better, and you\u2019ve played lots of different formations, can you explain how it looked tonight?\u201d The exchange followed a night that combined tactical praise with reminders of the persistent problem Slot himself has highlighted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gerrard praises Slot after Marseille win but warns: ‘He needs to stop mentioning low blocks’. Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172],"tags":[299,1012,1047],"class_list":["post-6152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-arne-slot","tag-burnley-style","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}