{"id":544016,"date":"2025-11-02T10:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T10:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/544016\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T10:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T10:56:18","slug":"arne-slot-shares-that-not-defending-a-set-piece-helped-liverpool-beat-aston-villa-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/544016\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot shares that not defending a set-piece helped Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool didn\u2019t have to defend a set-piece against Aston Villa on Saturday, which Arne Slot thinks may have helped them win.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The game was held at Anfield with Liverpool triumphing 2-0<\/a> after a fairly dominant display. <\/p>\n

Set-pieces and long-balls have been the Reds\u2019 Achilles heel this term, with Slot\u2019s men failing to deal with either of them all that well. <\/p>\n

\"mailJoin our newsletter for news & smart analysis. <\/p>\n

Despite their complaints about facing that sort of opponent, Unai Emery chose to line his men up as usual and keep the ball on the floor and pass in triangles. <\/p>\n

\"AstonPhoto by Rene Nijhuis\/MB Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This massively benefited Liverpool<\/a> as they rarely conceded any set-pieces, and it allowed the best version of their team to come through, with Slot even admitting that this could be why they won. <\/p>\n

Arne Slot admits that Liverpool beating Aston Villa was \u2018a bit of luck\u2019<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s defence has been one of their main problem areas this season. <\/p>\n

Ibrahima Konate has been in terrible form<\/a>, and more often than not, Milos Kerkez<\/a> has been outperformed by Andy Robertson. <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s game saw Liverpool return to a similar starting XI to the one that helped them win the Premier League<\/a> title last season, and, unsurprisingly, they put in one of their best performances of the campaign.<\/p>\n

And, even though Slot\u2019s men were on top form, the Dutchman still believes that they got \u201ca bit of luck\u201d on their way to victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe margins are small every single game \u2013 today after five minutes they hit the post \u2013 we didn\u2019t concede a set piece, which was helpful, but also we got a bit lucky, which hasn\u2019t happened recently,\u201d he said in quotes relayed by BBC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur second goal was a deflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they hit the post, that was their biggest chance. The last few weeks, every time that ball went in, now it didn\u2019t. Our second goal was a bit of luck, which we haven\u2019t had in the last few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about being 1-0 or 2-0 up, you can control the game a bit better with more possession, but if you are down, you have to chase the game and take risks and get counter-attacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone who was here today felt the importance of the game, the players and fans as well. We showed character and won the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool must build upon this win if they want a chance of winning the Premier League title<\/p>\n

Many thought that Liverpool would be among the Premier League title challengers this season. <\/p>\n

There have, of course, been times when the Reds have led the way, but after their last month of performances, it\u2019s a surprise that they\u2019re still in the top three. <\/p>\n

After their win against Villa, the Reds are now seven points behind league leaders Arsenal, with Andoni Iraola\u2019s Bournemouth the only other team ahead of them. <\/p>\n

Some thought that Liverpool\u2019s title hopes were out of the window,<\/a> but since they still have to face Arsenal again, that gap could eventually be knocked down to four points, and with the Gunners likely to slip up at some point, it\u2019s still anyone\u2019s game. <\/p>\n

\"VirgilPhoto by PAUL ELLIS\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

However, if Liverpool go into their next games against Real Madrid and Manchester City without a clear plan in mind, everything will go back to how it was, and the Reds would be left on the back foot.<\/p>\n

If Slot<\/a> wants to retain the Premier League title, he really needs to get his men back to their best and keep them that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool didn\u2019t have to defend a set-piece against Aston Villa on Saturday, which Arne Slot thinks may have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1121,748,393,4884,179,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-544016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115479747771158776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}