Ryan Gravenberch struggled for Premier League starts under Jurgen Klopp (Image: Sky Sports)
Ryan Gravenberch has subtly criticised former manager as he praised the approach of new manager after .
The midfielder has become pivotal under Slot, assuming responsibility for the No.6 role and shining as man of the match in the recent victory over Wolves. He has received the award multiple times already this season.
And Netherlands international Gravenberch contrasted his current form with his limited starts under Klopp last season.
The Dutch star told Sky Sports: “This season I wanted to show myself again and I am really happy. He put me in the starting 11 and gave me a lot of confidence. I think a team like always has to be in the top four.
Ryan Gravenberch was named man of the match in the win at Wolves (Image: Getty Images)
“We keep pushing but it’s still really early. We knew this was always going to be difficult for us. I think after 20 or 25 minutes we did really well and we got the three points so I’m really happy with that.
“We gave the equaliser away because of miscommunication. This can happen in football but it won’t happen again. We always try to push and we had a lot of chances. Maybe in the last phase of the game we could have scored one more.”
“But at the end of the day we still won. I think we lost a lot of concentration, myself included. We won but we have to learn from what we missed today. We have to get better.”
Saturday’s victory over bottom-of-the-league Wolves was another shining moment for Gravenberch. Slot was full of praise for the Dutch international, with the manager expressing surprise at his skills.
“He’s just very comfortable on the ball, and with (Alexis) Mac Allister as well, that helps the team if you want to have a possession-based style of play,” Slot said to Sky Sports.
“You want to have the ball; you want to keep it as long as possible. It always helps if you have two players that are so comfortable on the ball in the holding midfielder position, and the two of them can run as well.”
“To be completely honest, that [Gravenberch’s defensive ability] surprised me even a bit because I know him from the Dutch league.
“But I think at Bayern Munich and Jurgen did a real good job to make him also better without the ball, and that’s what we are taking the benefits of right now.”