Slot on 'stupid balls' and 'risk'

Liverpool boss Arne Slot admits he still has to have discussions with his dad about how the Reds can improve, despite their sensational season to date.

Slot has guided the Anfield club to top of the table in both the Premier League and Champions League but revealed his father - Arend - wanted more risk and excitement in Tuesday's 2-1 win over Lille.

But in speaking about his discussions with his dad, Slot revealed how he wants his players to control risk in fixtures more intelligently.

"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'."