The Reds\u2019 hard-fought victory in west London came after successive draws to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, leading their gaffer Arne Slot to believe it has become harder for Liverpool to score goals after they left it till late to earn a stoppage-time 2-0 victory over Brentford.<\/p>\n
The league-leaders, who had 37 shots on Saturday, needed Darwin Nunez\u2019s miraculous double to secure a precious three points in their bid for Premier League glory.<\/p>\n
The hard-fought victory in west London came after successive draws to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and Slot believes the fortified defensive set-up of opponents has made it increasingly difficult for his side to score.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you do see is that at this moment in time it\u2019s harder for us to convert our chances into goals,\u201d Slot said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not only up to us, that\u2019s also because teams throw themselves in front of every ball every time we get a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many of the other teams try to prevent us from scoring because all of them are in a low block.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s defense has been key to their success this season, conceding just 20 goals in 21 Premier League matches.<\/p>\n
Slot credited the center-back partnership of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk as a primary reason behind their success.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of those moments were defended really well by Ibou and Virgil,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went in a one-v-one against them in a counter-attack but we pushed them wide really well, which helped Alisson to save those shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI emphasized on that in the pre-match meeting, Bryan Mbeumo likes it on his left and scores a lot by going inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, one of the reasons we\u2019re so high in the league table is because we have two and four very good center-backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
What you do see is that at this moment in time it’s harder for us to convert our chances into goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brentford, who mounted a comeback in Tuesday\u2019s 2-2 draw with champions Manchester City, failed to replicate that stellar performance on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"