Slot admits that set pieces ‘saved’ Liverpool: ‘We played better when we lost’

For the second time in Premier League history, three goals were scored from corners in the first half as Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister were on target.

Liverpool have gone from being the worst top performers in terms of set-piece balance (the difference between the number of points scored and conceded) at the end of 2025 to the best since New Year’s Day.

So even with an xG of just 0.7 they went into halftime with a comfortable lead and despite two setbacks against Tomas Soucek and Taty Castellanos, Cody Gakpo and an own goal from Axel Disasi made it four wins in five league matches, taking them to fifth place.

“Very nice, because that is the reason we won in the first place, and secondly because people said ‘well played’. In my opinion, we played better when we lost and better when we conceded from set pieces,” said Slot.

“In the first half of the season, almost every set-piece we got went in. We’re starting to score from set-pieces and things are starting to look brighter and better than when they don’t.”

When asked what had changed, Slot added: “We created quite a few opportunities in the first half of the season that were too often not taken.

“Maybe one or two little details have changed defensively and offensively – our formation is a little different – ​​but the biggest reason is that things are getting back to normal.”

Florian Wirtz injury update: “Too early” for Wolves

Slot was without playmaker Florian Wirtz, absent with a back injury suffered in the warm-up at Nottingham Forest last weekend, and the Germany international remains a doubt for two trips to Wolves next week in the league on Tuesday and FA Cup on Friday.

“Sometimes with an injury things can develop in a positive or negative way. Now we think it shouldn’t take too long, but Tuesday will probably be too early,” he added.

“But the next week will be tight as things stand now. I thought he would also be available for today, which of course didn’t happen.”

West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo said it seemed ‘silly’ to take positives from the match but felt there were enough.

“It’s hard to explain, maybe it’s absurd to say it’s a good performance if you lose 5-2, but there are a lot of positives, a lot of negatives too,” he said.

“At half-time you say ‘boys, you are playing well, but losing 3-0’, but we really made mistakes in set pieces.

“The second half we started well and scored early, we created problems for Liverpool.

“To say it’s a good performance may sound very strange, but it’s what I saw – but we’re going home with a bad result.”