Arne Slot was positive about his squad after Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Ipswich, but also keen to insist that transfers are still very much possible.
Liverpool utilised a strong bench to help them turn a poor first 45 minutes into a brilliant second half.
While it was ultimately a positive day for the Reds, the first period did show some of Liverpool’s deficiencies.
Slot was asked for his opinion on Liverpool’s midfield performance in the context of there being no new faces, following Martin Zubimendi’s decision not to sign for Liverpool.
“The second half was a joy to watch”
Arne Slot reflects on his Liverpool side’s first Premier League game of the season ?
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“I don’t think our problem in the first half was our midfield,” said the head coach on TNT Sports.
“Our problem was more that we lost too many duels – our defenders lost too many and our attackers didn’t win enough.”
At half time Liverpool brought on Ibrahima Konate for Jarell Quansah, with Conor Bradley, Cody Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas also coming on in the second half.
The likes of Harvey Elliott, Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones didn’t even make it off the bench.
Slot continued: “I was pleased with them and a lot has been said about our [lack of] signings, but I saw three or four players coming off the bench without even coming into the team and they are already good enough to play.”
Despite this, he was keen to insist that the Reds are still active in the transfer market.
“We have many good players but like I said, if we can find another one we’ll not hesitate to do so but we have already many,” the head coach added.
Much of this summer’s transfer talk has been of departures rather than incomings.
Aside from Liverpool’s failed pursuit of Zubimendi, the closest the Reds seem to have come to a signing is Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
However, his potential signature would be immediately followed by a loan exit and would therefore not impact Liverpool’s fortunes this season.
As far as we know, no bids have been made for a defender this summer. This would make the decision to leave Joe Gomez out at home for Liverpool’s game against Ipswich even stranger.
The England international wasn’t included in the matchday squad and according to the Times‘ Paul Joyce, is now exploring “his options before the transfer window closes.”
Surely, we couldn’t afford to lose the versatile Gomez with no major players arriving in his place.
