Ryan Gravenberch aims subtle dig at Jurgen Klopp as he makes Arne Slot claim
Ryan Gravenberch has become a key player for Arne Slot this season, with his crowning achievement coming on Saturday as he was named man of the match in Liverpool's win over Wolves
by Jacob Leeks · The MirrorRyan Gravenberch has made a subtle dig at Jurgen Klopp as he hailed the management style of new Liverpool boss Arne Slot.
The midfielder has become a key player under Slot, taking ownership of the No.6 role in the Reds' line-up. He was named man of the match as Slot's men defeated Wolves on Saturday evening.
The Dutchman put in another impressive display in the middle of the park in his sixth successive top-flight start. By contrast, he started just 12 Premier League games across the entirety of his debut season under Klopp last year.
And as explained the impact Slot has made since arriving in the summer, Gravenberch appeared to hit out at his former manager for the lack of opportunities he was awarded to impress last term.
"This season I wanted to show myself again and I am really happy. He put me in the starting 11 and gave me a lot of confidence. I think a team like Liverpool always has to be in the top four," Gravenberch told Sky Sports.
"We keep pushing but it’s still really early. We knew this was always going to be difficult for us. I think after 20 or 25 minutes we did really well and we got the three points so I’m really happy with that.
"We gave the equaliser away because of miscommunication. This can happen in football but it won't happen again. We always try to push and we had a lot of chances. Maybe in the last phase of the game we could have scored one more.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who was man of the match as Liverpool beat Wolves? Comment below.
"But at the end of the day we still won. I think we lost a lot of concentration, myself included. We won but we have to learn from what we missed today. We have to get better."
Saturday's win over rock-bottom Wolves was a standout moment for Gravenberch. And Slot himself was leading the praise of the Dutch international, with the Liverpool boss caught off-guard by his efforts.
“He’s just very comfortable on the ball, and with (Alexis) Mac Allister as well, that helps the team if you want to have a possession-based style of play," Slot told Sky Sports after his side's win.
“You want to have the ball; you want to keep it as long as you can. It always helps if you have two players that are so comfortable on the ball in the holding midfielder position, and the two of them can run as well.
“To be completely honest, that [Gravenberch's defensive ability] surprised me even a bit because I know him from the Dutch league, but I think at Bayern Munich and Jurgen did a real good job to make him also better without the ball, and that’s what we are taking the benefits of right now."
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