Arne Slot has issued a public challenge to his “under-fire” Liverpool attack, insisting that the goals will return if his side maintains their belief in front of goal.
The Reds boss was forced to defend his frontline following a frustrating sequence of results that has seen Liverpool struggle to kill games off. Despite dominating possession and creating a wealth of “big chances,” Slot’s men have lacked the clinical edge that defined the early months of his tenure a trend that must be reversed as they head to Molineux for Friday night’s FA Cup fifth-round showdown.
While some critics have pointed to a dip in confidence for the Reds star-studded forward line, Slot remains adamant that the quality is there. “The goals will come,” the Dutchman declared, though his words carried an underlying demand for his players to rediscover their ruthless streak in the final third.
However, the 2-1 loss suffered at Molineux on Tuesday night in the Premier League saw the Reds’ wastefulness in front of goal come under fire once more, as a plethora of opportunities went begging for Slot and Co. on their travels.
The reigning Premier League champions somehow came away from the dramatic encounter empty-handed, despite amassing 19 shots on Jose Sa’s goal, and ending the game with a superior 66% slice of the possession in their favour.
Slot will want a lot more from his attackers as they go back to Molineux, desperate for revenge on Friday night, with Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah both dealing with harsh criticism at the full-time whistle.
Slot’s comments on Gakpo & Salah
Salah did manage to break his worrying goal drought in the 2-1 defeat, in his defence, but his breakaway strike wasn’t enough to guide his team to an invaluable three points in the intense race for Champions League qualification.
Gakpo had nowhere to hide come the end of the slim loss, on the other hand, as he even inexplicably got in the way of a goal-bound effort from Curtis Jones in an unfortunate second half for the visitors.
Slot wasn’t prepared to hang the Dutchman out to dry, alongside Salah, as he called for a much-improved attacking display all-round, in terms of cutting edge, in the build-up to the FA Cup clash.
He said: “We’re not doing that bad. We’re also the team with the most ball possession so you’d expect us to create more.
Cody and Mo we expect and they expect from themselves to score more. But attacking isn’t just down to Cody and Mo in the same way defending isn’t just down to Virgil and Ibou. Let’s create even more and the goals will come.”
The ex-Feyenoord manager has sent a challenge to the more creative players in his starting XI to step up and be counted, with Dominik Szoboszlai hopefully responding with a goal or an assist at Molineux on Friday evening.
Florian Wirtz will also hope he can be involved in some capacity to gift Liverpool some much-needed flair up top, with Slot openly revealing that his skilful playmaker – who has six goals and eight assists for the season – might well feature briefly after injury troubles.
He said: “He trained half and half with the team yesterday. He made the next step in rehab.
Let’s see where he is today. He could be available for a few minutes tomorrow in the best scenario.”
Wirtz’s chance creation numbers:
| Metric | Premier League | Champions League | Total (All comps) |
| Appearances | 25 | 7 | 35 |
| Chances created | 45 | 19 | 64 |
| Big chances created | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Key passes per 90 | 2.18 | 3.37 | 2.25 |
| Expected assists (xA) | 3.82 | 2.42 | 6.24 |
| Actual assists | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Passes into final third | 341 | 108 | 455 |
The table above gives you just a taster of how explosive the former Bayer Leverkusen star can be on his day, with Wirtz added into the side against Wolves on Friday night, hopefully getting the best out of Gakpo and Salah again, on the way to a confidence-boosting win being secured.
