2 weeks Ago
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has hit out at Michael Owen for suggesting that winning just the Premier League title is not enough for the Reds this season. The Reds beat Everton in midweek to restore their 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with Arsenal beating Fulham the previous evening. Liverpool had looked on for multiple trophies earlier this year but their losses to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Newcastle United in the League Cup final came in quick succession before the international break.
And now Liverpool have full focus on the Premier League with only a huge collapse set to stop them winning their 20th top-flight English title. Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was not happy with one of Owen’s questions after the Merseyside Derby, with the former Reds striker suggesting that it was not enough to only win the Premier League this season. After Liverpool beat Everton, Owen told Premier League productions : “It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks.
“Liverpool were poised to have a phenomenal season, if they win the Premier League it’ll still be fantastic but with a little bit of a bitter taste because it was building into something special. “I think it Liverpool fans hard, and the manager and the players, to go out of competitions in quick succession. “The dust will settle, everyone will realise if it’s the Premier League they win at the end of the season and only the Premier League that’ll be an incredible season and they would’ve snapped your hand off for that at the start of the season.
“But it doesn’t stop the feeling of the last few weeks and to get that winning feeling back will be really important to everybody connected with the club.” In a post-match interview, Owen asked Van Dijk: “I’m just thinking in terms of the season so far, if you’d have said at the start of the season you were going to win the Premier League I’m sure people would’ve been over the moon. However, it was building into something really special – how hard was it after a couple of big defeats in cup competitions to get your mind tuned back into the Premier League and to finish the season well?” MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365.
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” Van Dijk replied: “Well, I think we have to change that narrative a little bit. “We’re fighting for the biggest prize of the season, we worked so hard for it, 20 teams are working so hard to be on top of the Premier League. “We have eight games to go, we know what’s at stake, we have to go for it, we have to fight, we have to enjoy the whole ride and then let’s see.
Like I said, it’s still looking very special in my eyes. “I think what you said, at the start of the season, I think no one expected us to even try to fight on all four fronts, obviously we’re at the stage now where we’re still fighting for the biggest, and that’s the reality. It’s still a possibility that this season will be very, very special.
” Reacting to Owen’s comments, Liverpool boss Slot said on Friday: “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 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.
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