Arne Slot defends himself after Carragher criticism in awkward interview

In fairness, the results speak for themselves!

Liverpool opened their Premier League defence with a thrilling 4-2 over Bournemouth last night.

New signing Hugo Ekitike opened the scoring, with Cody Gakpo making it 2-0.

The Cherries hit back with two goals from Antoine Semenyo, before Federico Chiesa and Mo Salah struck late on.

While the Reds have strengthened their squad, both up front and at the back, question marks have been raised over the stability of their defence, particularly after their Community Shield loss to Crystal Palace.

After being hit with two brilliant counter-attack goals from Semenyo, the second of which saw the forward run from deep inside his own half, Jamie Carragher questioned Arne Slot in person on Sky Sports.

He criticised the amount of players Liverpool were sending forward, and Slot responded by lamenting the loss of Ryan Gravenberch, who is suspended.

He said: "I do talk about a player who was not available last week and not this week. That's Ryan Gravenberch. Last season, he was very, very important in these moments.

"So with Alexis Mac Allister only being back two or three weeks in pre-season, we lost a little bit of that control in our midfield. But Ryan will be back next week and Macca will be fitter. And we will find a balance in taking risks because against Palace, we lost two or three simple balls to counter-attacks."

On their risky style of play he added: "That's also who we were and who we are - and that's why we see such a nice game if you watch Liverpool. We are not going to a low block to defend."

Carragher continued to push, commenting: "That worries me a little, you saying that's the team that we are, with bodies going forward."

Slot once again defended his team: "You're allowed to say this. But then you need to support a team that plays 11 players in their own box. I prefer to see [what Liverpool did against Bournemouth].

"But I prefer even more to not see ourselves counter-attacked - that I agree on. But I like that our players like to play football - last season we were a joy to watch. Paris Saint-Germain do similar things to this."

You can watch the full interview on the Sky Sports app.