Before his side’s clash with Tottenham in the second leg of the League Cup semifinal on Thursday, Liverpool manager Arne Slot stressed how pleased he is with the quality of his squad, despite the lack of any reinforcements in the January transfer window.
“We have a very good squad and if you look at the league table I think the players have shown the trust we have in them was correct,” he exclaimed in a press conference.
The next 90 minutes at Anfield vindicated those remarks as the Reds issued a 4-0 drubbing of Spurs to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg and book their place in the League Cup final against Newcastle.
The quality that has propelled them to the top of both the Premier League and the league phase of the Champions League was on full display in a performance as dominant as the final score suggests it was.
Vintage Reds Pressure
The Reds piled on the pressure, breached their visitors’ final third at whim and carved their opponent’s defense open, and until the opener inevitably arrived through Cody Gakpo’s close-range strike.
The hosts maintained their intensity in pursuit of the goal to take them ahead on aggregate, which Mohamed Salah delivered from the spot after Darwin Nunez drew a foul from Spurs keeper Antonin Kinsky.
The Egyptians’ perfect penalty, buried straight into the top left corner of Kinsky’s net aptly symbolized what would end a perfect night for his side with Dominik Szoboszlai adding the third and captain Virgil van Dijk, the fourth.
The League Cup final on March 16th will be an occasion of many firsts for Slot. His first match as a manager at Wembley. His first Final as Liverpool manager. And possibly his first trophy as Liverpool manager.
However, for every player in Slot’s squad, save Federico Chiesa who arrived in the summer, Wembley is not only a familiar ground, but the site of their most recent triumph.
It was of course at Wembley last season, where Slot’s predecessor Jurgen Klopp lifted the very same cup and the final of the seven trophies throughout his legendary tenure with the Reds.
Slot has already won over the Anfield crowd with his side’s performances this season, but the most definitive measurement of any manager’s success at this level is trophies.
It would feel poetic for Liverpool supporters for Slot to win his first title at Liverpool by successfully defending Klopp’s last.
Building on what came before
In many respects, a Liverpool triumph at Wembley would also represent the achievements of both former and current manager.
The Reds’ performance two seasons ago fell well short of the norm under Klopp when they slumped to a fifth place finish and failed to win a single trophy.
However, a third place finish and a domestic cup the next campaign marked a quick rebound. Even if Liverpool could not quite repeat its achievements from the height of Klopp’s reign, the German certainly left an excellent foundation for his successor to build on.
Since his appointment last June, Slot has done exactly that. While the Dutchman’s set up differs from Klopp’s by prioritizing control of the ball over high-tempo direct football, his adjustments have paid off abundantly thus far.
The Reds sit top of the Premier League by six points with a game in hand over second-place Arsenal, topped the Champions League’s league phase with seven victories in eight matches and have now booked their place in a cup final.
Ahead of Liverpool’s meeting with Spurs, Slot insisted that he prepared his players for the match that took his men to that final just as he had any other game saying, “I don’t think I have to prepare them different to any other game, from now on until the end of the season.”
Against Tottenham, Slot and Liverpool stuck to their usual plan rather than attempt to conform to the circumstances of starting a second-leg knockout match behind on aggregate.
That worked as well on Thursday as it has all season long and it’s what will maximize their chance of success at Wembley.