Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot may have lost only two matches all season but there are still occasions when he cannot impress his dad.
The Dutchman regularly calls his father Arend after matches but following the 2-1 midweek Champions League win over Lille, which extended their 100 per cent record in the competition to seven matches, Slot senior was not particularly impressed.
It would have been difficult to match the drama of the two goals in stoppage time which secured the Premier League leaders’ victory at Brentford last weekend but Slot’s dad felt the team should have been more adventurous against the Ligue 1 side.
However, Slot, whose remarkable maiden season has seen him win 26 of 33 matches with just one Premier League defeat, said patience will be important as he expects struggling Ipswich to pose a tough test at Anfield.
“It is difficult for fans and my father is a fan as well,” he said.
“When I called him after the game he says, ‘ah, it wasn’t as exciting as other games of Liverpool’ when he watched the game against Lille.
“I had to try to explain to him these games you can easily lose if you are starting to force all kinds of difficult balls but he’s not always agreeing with me then.
“As a manager I was quite happy with our performance against Lille as they were well organised as a team.
“I think there was one moment in the game I can remember Curtis (Jones) tried to play, from the halfway line, a bit of a ball that had a bit of risk and we lost that ball and they counter-attacked us.
“That is the risk you have if you play against a low-block team. (Nottingham) Forest is probably the best in the league if you play these stupid balls – I call them stupid balls – which my father would love to see us playing a bit more.
“There is the risk of them creating much more chances and it is a difficult balance of taking the risk and conceding a lot or having control and not creating as much.
“Against this team (Ipswich) going 1-0 down, like we have seen against Forest, is even a bigger problem especially.
“I understand it is difficult for fans who come to the stadium to see us winning but hopefully also scoring a lot of goals in an exciting match but you need two teams for that and the better we do the less likely it is teams come to Anfield and say, ‘OK, let’s go to a high press and press them all over the pitch’.”
Jones was one of the stand-out players in the first 45 minutes against Lille but was forced off at half-time with what appeared to be a groin problem and is unavailable for the weekend and probably the final Champions League group fixture against PSV Eindhoven.
Ibrahima Konate revealed before the Lille game – which he subsequently sat out – he was playing with pain as he had come back early from a knee injury to help after Joe Gomez sustained a hamstring injury.
However, Slot is not concerned about the France international’s overall fitness.
“You have seen how we managed that. I think we skipped him twice and Jarell (Quansah) played against Lille and Accrington because he has some pain in his knee, we don’t exaggerate it, but he feels it a bit,” he said.
“It’s safe for him to play but it’s the load we’re aware of and if a player is out for five or six weeks then playing every three days is, in our opinion, a certain risk.
“So we always try to manage that and he now comes to a moment where he can now play three times a week.”
