Arne Slot hits back at Liverpool doubters after 4-0 Bayer Leverkusen rout

Liverpool’s head coach Arne Slot has dismissed any notion of him and his team having an easy ride after they secured their 14th victory in 16 games across all competitions, with a Luis Diaz hat-trick propelling them to a 4-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen.

The win, orchestrated against a side managed by ex-Reds star Xabi Alonso, maintains Liverpool’s flawless Champions League form and places them at the summit of both European and Premier League standings, marking an extraordinary beginning for Jurgen Klopp’s successor.

“No, not at all,” Slot responded when quizzed on the ease of their success. “You only look at results: Brighton was a difficult one on Saturday where we were 1-0 behind and had to fight really hard and that is what you saw today.

“We have to work really hard with incredibly high intensity to win our games and that has a lot to do with teams who think Anfield is the best place to play so every team we play against is at the top of their game.

“If you want to win you always have to be consistent in your intensity and that is not always easy but that is what is needed and if we can keep producing that it is still not easy but we get our wins in and that is what we want.”

Despite initial doubts upon his arrival, Slot has quickly raised expectations by achieving unprecedented success at Liverpool, and he is ready to tackle the heightened pressure head-on.

“I think if you work at any club around the world there is always pressure; for some managers it is not to go down, for some they have to win a lot,” he explained. “In our position there is always pressure and that is the pressure we give ourselves.

“If you work or play at Liverpool you know so many great players have set the standard so high here there always feels a bit of pressure but we also embrace this as this is what we want, we want to compete for everything.

“But the other side is if you work or play here you can enjoy incredible evenings because today the atmosphere was even more impressive than Saturday.”

Following a lacklustre first half, the game burst into excitement with Diaz and Cody Gakpo netting two goals within three minutes, and then Diaz, playing as a surprising false nine, sealed the deal with two more goals towards the end.

Slot waxed lyrical about the Colombian: “Not only the people in Colombia like Lucho, the people in Liverpool love him as well. I’ve heard many times the fans singing his song and the manager likes him as well.

“I don’t love him but I like him!” He also praised: “You all look at the goals Lucho and Cody score but I also look at the fact how hard they track back and how much they have to defend and I ask a lot from them so that’s why we rotate them but for me Lucho is a starter and Cody is a starter for me also.”

Alonso, who triumphed in the Champions League during his tenure at Anfield, experienced a disheartening return as his team were dismantled following an hour of resistance against Slot’s squad.

Reflecting on the match, Alonso remarked: “The second half compared to the first half wasn’t good enough. Second half we weren’t able to hold the intensity and we dropped our tempo and the first goal is a consequence of that, we weren’t squeezing the line quickly enough, and after the second one two minutes later it was tough.

“We weren’t able to recover from that. To lose 4-0 is a hard result, harder (to take) than the performance but it is what it is. This is the Champions League at Anfield against one of the best teams.”