Liverpool managed their first away win against Manchester City in ten years, as they came away comfortable 2-0 winners.
Despite Mohamed Salah breaking Premier League history with yet another goal and an assist, Liverpool’s most impressive performer on the night was arguably their set-pieces.
Arne Slot’s new set-piece tactic caught Man City off guard in the 14th minute, with Dominik Szoboszlai expertly flicking the ball onto Salah, who fired home.
Jamie Carragher lauded Szoboszlai’s assist but it now seems like the goal actually didn’t go as Liverpool had originally planned, with Curtis Jones lifting the lid on his side’s set-piece routine.
Curtis Jones reveals Liverpool training secret on set-piece goal vs Man City
Having expertly dismantled City with their clever routine, many Reds supporters have been left wondering whether it was planned in the first place.
Speaking after the game, Szoboszlai revealed that it was indeed planned and the Reds had created the pattern of play on the training ground.
“Yeah, we practised it yesterday and hopefully we can do it even more times,” Szoboszlai told Sky Sports.
With that being said, Jones has since revealed that he was actually supposed to be on the end of the routine instead of Salah.
The Liverpool academy graduate told the Premier League:
“It was planned that but in training, we did the same thing but Mo’s touch was bad so it fell to me at the edge and I scored. So I was telling Mo, ‘Mo just do the exact same thing’ but yeah it fell to him there and he went and scored so I am happy.”
Arne Slot reveals Liverpool’s ‘great plan’
Liverpool entered the game with just three set-piece goals to their name, the joint fewest of any team in the Premier League.
So their goal may come as a surprise to some, especially with Man City having conceded the joint fewest set-piece goals this season (two).
Speaking to SkySports after the game Slot was quizzed on whether his side had taken inspiration from Bournemouth’s set-piece routines.
“Now you tell me, I remember that one but it wasn’t inspired by that. It’s not just me, we as a group people look at how the setup is and in this situation, someone came up with a great plan, it wasn’t me.
“We knew that space could be there and we trained it yesterday and now because of deflection, it went in. It was so helpful because we weren’t dominating the game.”