Liverpool started their 2024-2025 Premier League season with a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town on August 17, but new manager Arne Slot explained that it was the change in play at half-time that helped the team to the 3 points. With Slot at the helm, Liverpool began a new era for the club and the win was a positive start. Slot revealed that his side switched up their tactics in the second half, which ultimately proved to be decisive against Ipswich Town.
Ipswich, buoyed by the presence of their new minority shareholder and popular singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran in the stands, put up a strong first-half resistance. But although the home side created chances, they were unable to capitalise. The breakthrough came on the hour mark when Jota found the net, capitalising on a precise pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who set up Salah to help the Portuguese striker home. Just five minutes later, Salah himself got on the scoresheet.
At the post-match press conference, Slot explained what went wrong with the team in the first 45 minutes of the game and how he made sure the second half went differently.
“We couldn’t get into the rhythm (in the first half)… the second half was a joy to watch… the first thing I said (at halftime) was that we don’t need to talk about tactics when we’re losing so many tackles and that’s what we did… not that Jarell lost every tackle, a lot of us lost too many tackles, but we needed Konate to win those long balls through the air… that helped and gave us control… they played one-on-one all over the pitch and I don’t think they could keep that up in the second half,” Slot said.
“We showed them at half-time that when a team plays one-on-one all over the field, you can’t keep playing the ball short… outplay them and then fight for it… I didn’t see them fighting for it in the first half, we lost almost every long ball, every tackle… in the second half they were ready… then gaps opened up and you could see that we can play pretty good football… in the first half our defenders lost too many tackles and our attackers didn’t win enough… we have a lot of good players, but if we can find another one, we won’t hesitate to do that,” Slot added.
With this victory, Liverpool and Slot have set a positive tone for the season, as the club looks to challenge for the title again after last year’s defeat.
