Arne Slot delivers frank verdict on what he simply disliked in Liverpool's victory over Arsenal

Arne Slot revealed that Liverpool’s second-half performance pleased him more than the first period in their pre-season victory over Arsenal.

The Reds defeated their Premier League rivals 2-1 in Philadelphia as part of the club’s USA tour. Mo Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool in the 13th minute before Fabio Carvalho doubled the advantage on 34 minutes.

Arsenal got back into the game five minutes before the break when Kai Havetz netted. The second period was an archetypal friendly and the Gunners saw a lot more of the ball but were limited to a dearth of chances despite Liverpool making a host of substitutions.

Slot was happy with aspects of Liverpool’s performance, especially how they soaked up pressure, but rued the manner in which they conceded. Speaking to LFCTV, the Anfield head coach replied when asked what pleased him most about the game: “Maybe the second half where we had a lot of problems with Arsenal because they were constantly all over us but we defended really strong, kept them away. I don't think they had many chances. that was a positive thing because you'll always have difficult times in a game but if you fight like this and have so many bodies behind the ball, defending in front of goal was really good.

“We all enjoyed the first half after the first 10 minutes. It was fine to see us create so many chances against a strong opponent like Arsenal. Honestly, they had a few in the first half. The first half was quite equal after the first 10 minutes because we started really poor. They did what we intended to do, they played every ball in the last line but after that both teams had a lot of chances and it was good we scored to.

“What I didn't like was conceding from a second phase of a set-piece. The game [being] 2-0 up at half-time is much different than conceding one out of a set-piece.”