In the opening match of the new Premier League season, Liverpool drew 2-2 with Newcastle United after a penalty goal in the 99th minute. After the match, Liverpool manager Arne Slot gave an interview to Sky Sports.

What are your thoughts on today's final result?

It's not the result we wanted before the match, but clearly scoring an equalizer in the final moments can lift people's spirits a bit. I don't think we deserved to lose today, and I'm pleased with the effort from the players. They never gave up, and in the end we got a goal and secured at least a point.

So you don't think you deserved to lose. Do you think you deserved to win, or is a draw a fair result for you?

We... I'm confident. I haven't seen the statistics yet, but I believe we were ahead in chances and other metrics...

It's somewhat unfair in a way, because they got an early lead, so they could say "right, now it's our turn to attack," which limited the flow of the game. But overall, I'm confident we created better chances in the match, yes.

Well, to put it in perspective, your xG was 2.73 and theirs was 1.43. You've said in previous interviews that you don't pay much attention to xG, and I actually agree with you. But during the match, did it feel like a 2.73 xG performance?

I think we pushed into dangerous areas, but perhaps we lacked proper finishing in the first half. We got a lot of the ball at the edge of their box, but sometimes we dribbled too much. We really should have just shot. Even on the first goal we conceded, I think Gravenberch was in a very good shooting position. We should have finished the attack at the edge of the box, but we didn't shoot and they punished us on the counter.

In previous interviews you mentioned the first and second half, saying you wanted to bring the intensity from the first half into the second. Did you see that today?

Yes, I think the substitutes brought us energy. I'm not sure if they played better or worse, but they brought energy. You could feel the way we wanted to play. Nobody can run at full intensity for 90 minutes. So we needed that freshness from the substitutes, and I think it worked today.

And as you know, this is a difficult away ground to play at, and the pre-match tribute today was very moving. I think you're a very flexible manager who adapts to the available players. I've also heard the concept of "controlling the rhythm through possession." That's almost about controlling the game in this way. Regarding the counter-attacking defense today, when you had the attacking initiative—your possession was 61%—did you feel you nearly achieved the control you wanted? For instance, were there moments where you wished your players had been more proactive in stopping counters through tactical fouls or other means?

Yes, of course. When we conceded both goals... overall we spent a long time in their half, had good possession, and controlled the ball for long periods. That's exactly what we want. But I think the first goal could have been prevented. Because basically Alain Saint-Maximin went all the way through, and he's a very quick player. Perhaps the mistake was that we should have finished our attack instead. We were in an excellent finishing position at that moment. On the second goal, we had numerical superiority and I think, as you said, we should have fouled to stop it. We had enough players to defend that transition. We discussed this at halftime, but sometimes you need to finish your attack, try to win the ball back, or commit a foul. Compared to that, the second goal is harder to accept. The first one was brilliant play, really difficult to stop, and perhaps the issue was that we didn't finish our attack before it.

When you conceded on the counter like that, is it a tactical and personnel issue—too many attacking-minded players pushing forward—or is it simply a matter of learning more discipline? Or is it essentially a structural issue requiring a different adjustment in midfield?

I think... we probably discussed Newcastle United beforehand, and this is probably their greatest weapon. Their front three and the substitutes are certainly the second or third fastest in the league, if not the fastest. That's a big threat, and we discussed and trained for it all week. Actually, I think we need to finish more. We tried to do too much in the first phase. And in the second phase, we had enough numerical superiority but defended poorly. At the same time, we have to give credit to their performance because both goals they scored were of very high quality.

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