Arne Slot reacts to Liverpool's 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League
Arne Slot admits he is not satisfied with Liverpool's Premier League position - despite going level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea with a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
After a first-half red card for Xavi Simons, the Reds struck twice in the second period through Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike before Richarlison netted on 83 minutes to set up a grandstand finish that the champions were able to see out in North London.
The victory means the Reds are now unbeaten in six across all competitions and up to fifth in the table but Slot says Champions League qualification was not the sole aim for the campaign when it got underway in August.
OPINION
The Dutch coach, however, says he, the club's owners Fenway Sports Group and its executive team are accepting that the changes implemented over the summer would take time to yield results.
"No of course we are happy with that but when we started the season, it wasn't as though I was thrilled and completely happy with the top four," Slot said. "We are always aiming for the best possible and after the good start we had, we were disappointed with the run of results we had after it.
"I think you have said, we are now on equal points for the top four but we have done quite well in the Champions League with a difficult draw. I see a lot of teams that hardly have a point but we haven't faced them.
"So I think it has never been as bad as some people have said but it's also true that we are definitely not perfect yet. But we knew this when we made so many changes in the summer, it'd take time.
"Maybe because we won the first five or six games people thought it was just go so easily but as a club, ownership, Richard Hughes (sporting director), Michael Edwards (CEO of football), all the other people knew that change could also come with [fluctuations] different results and that has shown to be true."
Spurs were reduced to nine men when Cristian Romero was shown a second yellow for kicking out at Ibrahima Konate but Slot says the second dismissal only emboldened the hosts in the final moments as they chased an unlikely equaliser.
Slot added: "I thought [Romero's red] would mean it is a bit easier but in reality, it wasn't. Of course, they still had the free-kick and I know what a special player Pedro Porro is, he has shown that already with the corner he took which led to a goal.
"So I thought let's survive this free-kick and then, to be honest, I thought with nine men, we would be able to keep them away from our goal but it looked as though we were down to nine and they had 11, which led to attack, after attack, after attack. It didn't lead to a goal.
"The second one I haven't seen and I thought one of our players got a yellow. I was thinking: 'how can Ibou (Konate) get a yellow card for this?' But Ibou wasn't even on a yellow. But then I saw it was theirs, so I don't know why it happened. "With Xavi Simons, I don't think he had any intention to do it but if you see it back, where he touches him, from behind, studs, the height, calf, this time already a few times in games against us it hasn't led to a red card and this time it did. "I've seen these fouls are red cards and sometimes against us they haven't been. You are always relying on who is the VAR and which referee makes a decision."