Beth Lindop, CorrespondentDec 10, 2024, 04:07 PM ET
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has demanded more from his team after they battled to a 1-0 victory in the Champions League and said he was "far from happy" with the performance.
Liverpool looked some way from their best at the Estadi Montilivi, but secured the win thanks to a Mohamed Salah penalty in the second half after Donny van de Beek was deemed to have fouled Luis Díaz inside the area.
The victory means Liverpool continue their perfect record in Europe, having won all six of their Champions League games this term, but Slot insisted performances must improve if his team have ambitions of going all the way in the competition.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, the Liverpool boss said: "If you ask me about all the six games I am really pleased with all the results and the performances in the five games.
"I am far from pleased about the performance tonight. Especially two things. If you play against a team that has such a good idea about football, knows how to bring the ball out like teams we have played recently in Real Madrid and Manchester City, you need to be so intense.
"But if you are waiting to press and are so easily outplayed, this team can cause you problems. This is what they showed throughout Champions League except [against] PSV.
"I feel sorry for them because they deserve more than three points. We have an incredible goalkeeper. When we lost the ball we were not aggressive enough. Hardly any control at all of the game. Maybe the second half was a bit better."
One major positive for Liverpool was the return of Alisson to the starting lineup, with the goalkeeper having been sidelined since Oct. 5 with a hamstring injury. The Brazilian made a string of saves to preserve Liverpool's fifth clean sheet in Europe this season, and Slot was quick to dub him "the best goalkeeper in the world" after the match.
"He definitely didn't look like he'd been away," Slot said. "I said as a bit of a joke the players wanted to test his fitness today [giving up chances].
"He showed today what I said so many times that he's our first goalkeeper. That's nothing to do with Caoimhin [Kelleher], who did well, but [Alisson] showed today he's one of the best, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper in the world. Let's hope he can keep these performances going and stay fit."
Slot also defended striker Darwin Núñez, who spurned a number of chances against Girona and has just three goals in 19 appearances for Liverpool this term.
Asked whether the Uruguayan is low on confidence, Slot said: "What I can agree on is that he missed a few chances; then it is a question if he's low on confidence.
"I think every striker has a moment when everything goes in and then a period where try so hard and don't score. But the good thing is we have many players who can score. He was a threat but unfortunately he couldn't score."
Regardless of the results the rest of the day, Liverpool is guaranteed to finish the sixth of eight league phase rounds in first place on 18 points.
The final two rounds will be played at the start of 2025.
ESPN's Sam Marsden contributed to this story.
