Liverpool’s 4-1 victory over Ipswich this afternoon was a practical “perfect performance”, according to the head of Arne Slot.
Cody Gakpo continued his good season with two goals, and Dominic Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah were also targeted for Liverpool, who retained his six points advantage over Arsenal at the top of the ladder.
Jacob Greaves returned one late for Ipswich, but they were declared most of the afternoon and now they have received 10 goals in two games to see their fear of relegation.
Selfie Reds on Sagittarius 🤳 pic.twitter.com/kqf2pbhebb
– Liverpool FC (@lfc) 25. January 2025
An early breakthrough opened the way to win – slot
Szoboszlai’s early goal was key to Dutch Slota, who said: “So far it has been several times when we played a home game that we scored a goal at the beginning of the match, but I think today is the way you want to start the game: We were aggressive . Dominant.
“I think they were barely on our half of 85 minutes. This is a threat to a counter -attack with the winged attackers they have [Liam] Delap, but we were able to control it, so, so good because of the amount of work we invested.
“In the end, we are all a little disappointed we received [from] Corner – first this season – but 85 minutes it was almost perfect performance, against a team that goes to such a low block. This is not always easy then, but the way we did it 85 minutes was really good. ”
Special praise for Szoboszlai
Slot was particularly pleased with the Hungarian captain of Szoboszlai, who he thinks sometimes passes under the radar.
He added, “If you are in home at home, I think at the beginning of the season he would play that ball Mou, which was a very good choice for most of the time because he could definitely score a goal.
“And now he decided to go to the goal himself and scored a goal himself. Nice to him because, in my opinion, he is a little underestimated. Not from me, but he does not always receive the merit for the fact that he is very important for this team, because his working rate is amazing.
“He just continues to run with the highest intensity, which is very important for a team that wants to compete for something.”
Nowhere is it better than home 🏟️
Goal in each of his last seven starts at Anfield for Gakpo 🇳🇱✨ pic.twitter.com/udabiwnqk1
– Liverpool FC (@lfc) 25. January 2025
For Ipswich continues the fear of relegation
Ipswich has remained in the last three and in the middle of the adhesive series after a 6-0 defeat from Manchester City last weekend.
Chief of Kieran McKenna told the BBC Sport: “It was another tough match for us. It was positive about how we finished. I didn’t think we were under great pressure in the first half, but Liverpool were clinical and we didn’t defend our field well enough. There was a difficult stage of the season, but we will get lessons from it.
“Everyone comes with the plan, but when they score such a first goal, it’s really hard. Good luck to my players on how they endured in the second half.
“We’ll look back at that. Some things have to do better than in the first half. I know it’s half a season, but this is the first time the last four are together after a sixth game. “
There may be more bad news for Ipswich with wing Wesa Burns, who left due to injury that looks nasty.
McKenna added: “His knee is very swollen. We are not too positive. ”
