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Arne Slot has revealed he was pleased with the way Liverpool defended in Monday’s friendlies against Athletic Bilbao, but admitted he is concerned about one area ahead of this weekend’s game against Crystal Palace.
The Reds faced Bilbao in two back-to-back matches at Anfield, winning both.
An under-strength XI won 4-1 in the opening fixture before a stronger side emerged with a 3-2 victory in the second match.
Defensive lapses have been a concern this summer for Liverpool in its preseason matches, something Slot has even referenced.
However, one aspect that did worry Slot was Liverpool’s defending from set-pieces, with Bilbao’s Oihan Sancet scoring from a free-kick routine in the first period, before a corner kick in the second resulted in Cody Gakpo inadvertently turning the ball into his own net.
Ahead of the Community Shield encounter against a physically dominant Palace, Slot says that is a concern.
“Today we hardly conceded anything at all, so that pleased me as well,” Slot told LFCTV, as he reflected on the double header at Anfield.
“But then to concede, especially in the second game, two set-piece goals, that's not what you want – especially if you play Crystal Palace [on Sunday] who are a team that are very strong on set-pieces.
“That's another thing to work on
“I think in both games we created a lot of chances, scored seven goals – four in the first, three in the second – so that's very pleasing to see because we definitely didn't score every chance we had.
“Especially in the second game in the first half, I think we could have scored a few goals more than we did
So that pleased me most, the ability to create the chances and even to score seven goals over two games is also good.”
Perhaps the star performer on Monday, and across the summer in general, was Rio Ngumoha
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