Arne Slot reveals real Liverpool reason for £450m transfer spree - 'We didn't shut our eyes'

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCLiverpool may have won the Premier League last season but Arne Slot says events in the second half of the title-winning campaign were instructiveArne Slot admits Liverpool are struggling to adapt to a new style of play he believes became clear was needed on their way to winning the Premier League title last season. The Reds go into the weekend top of the table.However, there are question marks over their form having lost back-to-back games for only the second time under Slot, with last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace followed on Tuesday by a 1-0 Champions League reverse against Galatasaray in Istanbul.Inconsistent performances earlier in the campaign were masked by a number of late winners with Liverpool still to find their rhythm having brought in almost £450million worth of new players in the summer.READ MORE: Arne Slot confirms major Liverpool injury blow amid Hugo Ekitike fitness updateREAD MORE: Arne Slot speaks out on Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah Liverpool form - 'So much focus'And Slot, whose side are at Chelsea on Saturday evening, has explained the spending spree was primarily sparked by an acceptance the Reds had started to find it difficult breaking down opponents from open play last season."We were very happy winning the league, but we didn't shut our eyes for the second part of the season, how many times we needed a set-piece to win, which is not something bad because Arsenal and Chelsea are needing a set-piece almost every single game at the moment," the Liverpool head coach said."That's why we also had the window that we had - sometimes to replace, sometimes to add a certain quality."And it's up to us to show that we can do better in these kind of games than we did in the second part of last season and the first part of this season."Slot added: "In the meantime, we almost won every single game (this season)."But the margins are not the same any more as the first part of the last season, with 3-0 against Bournemouth, 6-3 at Tottenham and 5-0 at West Ham."And then you depend a bit more on luck or bad luck or on a set-piece."We are trying to go to a situation where we don't need a set-piece to win a game or we don't need someone to fall on the ground to get a penalty, or a referee to do extra time of extra time of extra time."That is something we dislike."With Alisson Becker out for several weeks with a hamstring problem, Giorgi Mamardashvili will make his Premier League debut following a £29million summer arrival from Valencia.Slot is hopeful forward duo Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa will be available after the former was forced off against Galatasaray and the latter missed out altogether, while Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley are all pressing for a recall after being benched in midweek.