Arne Slot has hit back at Michael Owen’s suggestion that the Premier League title would not be enough for Liverpool this season by insisting nothing matters more than becoming champions of England again.
The former Liverpool striker was taken to task by Virgil van Dijk after the Merseyside derby on Wednesday for claiming the campaign was “building into something really special” until Slot’s team exited the Champions League and lost the Carabao Cup final. Owen agreed it would still be special for Liverpool to win the title for a record-equalling 20th time but with the caveat that the two cup defeats in six days would leave “a bitter taste”.
Related: It’s unfair to blame Liverpool for being the best team: that’s how you win titles | Barney Ronay
Slot, on course to win the Premier League by a comfortable margin in his first season in English football, believes a former Liverpool player who never won the title with the club should not require a history lesson.
“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?” asked the Liverpool head coach when details of Owen’s post-match interview with Van Dijk were put to him.
“Michael did play 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 I would say. If you do it 10 times in a row then I could understand that people say: ‘Oh but you only win the Premier League.’ If [Manchester] City only won the Premier League then I could understand people saying: ‘It’s not a good season for City.’ But if, 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.”
Slot also dismissed the theory that this season’s Premier League is easier to win because of City’s dramatic decline and Arsenal’s failure to mount a consistent challenge. He insisted the league was stronger than ever and that it as an outstanding achievement by Liverpool to have 73 points from 30 games and to have lost only once.
“I think the league is better than it ever was,” Slot said. “That’s what I hear a lot because 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 because so many more teams are having so many more good players.
“I think he even said what I have said the whole year, that all clubs, even some who are fighting against relegation, have some players who can play for City, for Arsenal, for us, for Chelsea and for these type of teams. The reason why teams you might expect to have more points don’t have them is because the league has become stronger. That is probably why it is such a compliment for us that we do have those points at the moment.”
