Arne Slot felt Liverpool were lacking in the first half against Wolves despite going into the break 1-0 up, with Ibrahima Konate revealing his half-time words.
Konate’s header on the brink of half-time was a relief for the Reds, after a difficult first half which Wolves dominated for large periods.
Liverpool eventually came away with the 2-1 victory, though it was a fight throughout at Molineux as Gary O’Neil’s injury-and-illness-hit side battled hard.
“The first half was very hard for the team, because we were late,” Konate told LFCTV.
“And this is what the manager said [at half-time], we need more concentration and more aggression when we start pressing.
“I think when we came back for the second half we did it well, the first 15 minutes, but after it was again a big battle.
“But we were expecting this game today and I think we have to keep the three points on our mind and learn about what we missed today.”
Slot’s message to the squad has been consistent so far this season: win the duels and the result should come – and after losing out in the first half (winning only 42.5% per FotMob) they were stronger than Wolves after the break (winning 57.9%).
Konate could have come away from Molineux with the Man of the Match award, though it eventually went to Ryan Gravenberch after the centre-back’s involvement in a sloppy goal conceded through Rayan Ait-Nouri.
But either way, three points were paramount and saw Liverpool move to the top of the Premier League – though Slot’s stance that the table is not yet a “realistic view” is shared by the squad.
“It was very hard, but to be where we want we have to fight, we have to work very hard,” Konate continued.
“Today we saw it and now we have to learn about a lot of things we saw today.
“The games will start to be harder, harder, harder, now we have to work more in training to be more concentrated during the game.
“Yeah we are top of the league, but it’s too early to think about anything. We have to keep going, we will see what will happen.”
