Arne Slot enjoyed his first Premier League win at Anfield following Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Brentford on Sunday.
The Reds are now the only teams in the new Premier League season with a perfect record after two games, along with Brighton, Manchester City, and Arsenal.
Slot has a difficult assignment ahead of him in replacing Jurgen Klopp, beginning with a trip to Manchester United the following weekend.
However, the Dutchman is doing well in the early going as his team hasn’t given up and has shown off a wide range of attacking possibilities, led by Salah.
“Most players are quite used to what we want because it is not too different to what Jurgen did in the past,” said Slot after building on an opening weekend win at Ipswich.
“We still have to prove a lot against teams that can end up in the top six.”
Slot is anticipated to use a possession-focused strategy as opposed to Klopp’s nearly nine-year tenure.
But Liverpool’s opening goal was a page out of Klopp’s script.
On the thirteenth minute, Salah released Diogo Jota from a Brentford corner, and Jota timed his delivery into Diaz perfectly so that Diaz could charge through on goal and fire into the top corner.
After then, all that was seen were glimpses of the football that Slot is trying to introduce in the first half.
Ivan Toney, who is anticipated to depart the team before Friday’s transfer deadline, was once again absent from Brentford.
Even without the England striker, though, the Bees were a threat and had a chance to tie the score ten minutes into the second half.
Alisson Becker does a fantastic job of parrying a bullet header from Nathan Collins in response to Mathias Jensen’s inviting cross.
Early in the second half, Liverpool were startled out of their reverie by the warning.
A few moments later, Collins made a goal-saving block to prevent Jota from turning in a low cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The next player to make a crucial block to stop Salah from finishing off a brilliant team move was Vitaly Janelt.
Then, Mark Flekken of Brentford made an incredible save to deflect Diaz’s strong shot.
The Reds needed Salah to deliver the clinical finish to ultimately secure the points, as is often the case.
This time, the outstanding Diaz received the assist, and the Egyptian player executed a wonderfully timed run to stay onside and dink the ball over Flekken.
“In the first half there is more energy in the other team, then in the second half it eventually leads to gaps that open up,” added Slot.
“In the end Brentford didn’t have the legs anymore to defend us.”
The 60,000 spectators cheered Slot’s name during the game’s last moments, following Klopp’s instructions to do so during his goodbye in May.
Liverpool appeared to be giving Klopp a magnificent sendoff for the majority of the previous campaign as they challenged City and Arsenal for the championship before faltering in the last weeks of play.
The fact that there hasn’t been a single addition to the Liverpool team as we approach the last week of the transfer window has caused great dismay among the fans.
But if there is to be a three-way race for the trophy, they appear to be in the strongest position of all to challenge City and Arsenal once more.
