Arne Slot was taken aback by Michael Owen’s line of questioning when speaking to Virgil van Dijk after the Merseyside derby.
When the former Liverpool striker suggested to the Dutch defender that the Reds’ season would be less ‘special’ if they were to win the Premier League but nothing else, our captain retorted that lifting the domestic title would be a standout achievement and was determined to ‘change the narrative’ around his team.
A couple of days later, the LFC head coach joined his skipper in taking the pundit to task over his implication that winning the league wouldn’t be a huge feat and also rubbished wider suggestions that the quality of the English top flight has diminished this season compared to previous years.
Slot hits out over Owen interview
In relation to the Owen/Van Dijk interview, Slot reflected (via Daily Mail): “Let me understand it right, Virgil was a bit frustrated because it came across as it’s not enough to ‘only’ win the Premier League? Michael played for us, didn’t he? So he is aware of the fact that in 35 years we won the league once?
“There is your answer. If you can win the league with this club then, phew, nothing else matters. If you do it 10 times in a row then I could understand that people say, ‘Oh but you only win the Premier League’.
“At this club, you can compete for it and let alone win it, then it is a strange question to ask in my opinion. If Virgil has this opinion as well then I agree with him. I follow the Dutch media a bit more than the media here and… no, let’s leave it!
“I think the league is better than it ever was, the strength overall is getting better. I think even Pep [Guardiola] said there will not be a team again as long as he lives that gets more than 100 points and wins the league four times in a row.”
A league title this year would mean so much to Liverpool
Slot is right to challenge the suggestion that ‘merely’ winning the Premier League wouldn’t constitute a cause for celebration for Liverpool, especially when so few pundits even mentioned us in pre-season discussions about potential title winners.
Lifting the title this year wouldn’t end as long a wait as our previous triumph, but it’d still feel particularly special given that Reds fans were deprived of a proper celebration in 2020 due to the global pandemic.
Even for a club of LFC’s track record, winning silverware should never be taken for granted. Before our Champions League triumph in 2019, we’d won just one trophy in 13 years (League Cup in 2012), so we’ve been spoiled by comparison in recent times.
Slot is also right to highlight that the quality of the Premier League overall is quite high – look at the sustained improvements made by the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa and Brighton. Broadcasters in this country love to champions England’s top flight as the best in the world, so online suggestions to the contrary are nothing but jealousy of Liverpool’s dominance this season.
If the Reds are on the winners’ podium at Anfield in seven weeks’ time, not one single player, fan or coach associated with the club will be bothered in the slightest about external naysayers!
