Arne Slot's simple solution for how Liverpool can close gap on Man City and win title
Liverpool are looking to close the gap on Manchester City from last season and Arne Slot knows what will be crucial if they are to do fight for the Premier League title
by Chris McKenna · The MirrorArne Slot believes Liverpool can close the gap to Manchester City by improving their away results from last season.
And the key to that for the Kop boss is to silence the home fans when they’re on the road. Liverpool finished nine points behind champions City under Jurgen Klopp in his final campaign.
But the Reds actually won a point more than Pep Guardiola’s men at home. The difference between the sides was away from their own patch. Both clubs lost three games away but City won five more.
The Reds lost at Goodison Park and drew at Old Trafford to rivals Everton and Manchester United at a key stage of the season, too.
That 10 point difference was enough to see City finish well ahead of Liverpool on their way to a fourth title in a row. Now Slot wants to find an edge and, after being frustrated with their performance last week at Wolves despite the win which moved them top of the table, he has told his players their form away from home is crucial.
He said: "If you are purely looking at it from a data point of view then it was a 10 point difference to City [on away points collected]. If you look at the home form of both teams then the £10m question is why is this?
“I think there are areas we have to improve and that is why it is so important to take control over every game, not only the home games but the away ones too. Just to be very dominant in away games that is why I wasn't very happy with the first 20 minutes at Wolves."
Slot believes the crowd plays a huge part in making away games more difficult. He wants his players to silence them by controlling the game and not giving up easy opportunities.
Starting today when they travel to Selhurst Park to face a Crystal Palace side still looking for their first Premier League win of the season.
“I think the home and away games of Liverpool are quite similar but in general it is tougher to play away because the home fans cheer very hard if their team gets a chance, they get more confidence from that,” said the Dutchman.
“You play against the same players (as you do at home) but they get more confidence from the fans which make it a bit more difficult to win an away game. But there were also many home games that were quite tight and maybe then our fans made the difference.
“The thing is if you are Liverpool - and also they are one or two other [top] clubs - if we go to say Wolves or Palace and they get a corner kick the fans cheer. So this is what you face when you are a top club.
"Everyone is looking forward to it [Liverpool coming to town] the whole week, the Palace fans, everybody is talking about, 'Liverpool are coming,' the players are all up for it and that is why it is tough.”
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