Arne Slot has targeted transforming Liverpool’s away form as the answer to his “£10m question” after concluding their record on the road last season cost them the title.
Liverpool go to Crystal Palace on Saturday after winning all three away league matches under Slot, beating Ipswich, Manchester United and Wolves, and prevailing in their Champions League opener against AC Milan at the San Siro.
In Jurgen Klopp’s final season, Liverpool had the best home record in the Premier League as they took 48 points, one more than both champions Manchester City and runners-up Arsenal.
But Liverpool finished nine points behind Pep Guardiola’s side after winning only nine of their 19 away games, to City’s 14 and Arsenal’s 13. They took 34 points on their travels; the champions secured 44.
“If you are purely looking at from a data point of view then it was a 10-point difference to City,” Slot said. “And the [final] gap was nine. If you look at the home form of both teams it’s the same. If you look at the home form of both teams then the £10m question is, why is this?”
Slot’s preference is for a controlled style of play, compared to Klopp’s more chaotic brand of football, and the Dutchman feels it is important to quieten the home crowd by limiting the amount of chances their hosts enjoy.
He explained: “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.
“The thing is if you are Liverpool – and also there 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’s visit] 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.
“That’s why it’s so important: don’t lose a simple ball, don’t give away a corner kick, don’t [let them] get a cross in, don’t give them anything that they can cheer for. I’ve seen a lot of games of Palace and it is probably impossible for a lot of teams not to get a chance. Every team does concede chances and that has to do with the amount of quality every team has in the Premier League, but keeping them away from our goal as much as we can is the smartest thing to do.”