ReactionArne Slot press conference: Leeds United 3-3 Liverpool

The Reds were denied victory at Elland Road in the Premier League on Saturday evening by a stoppage-time equaliser.

Hugo Ekitike had struck twice in a little over two minutes at the start of the second half to earn the visitors a 2-0 lead.

However, a Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty and goal from Anton Stach restored parity with 15 minutes remaining.

Liverpool again went ahead via Dominik Szoboszlai in minute 80, but an Ao Tanaka effort deep in added time saw the game end even.

Read on for the head coach's reaction.

On whether the result and the manner of the way his team conceded goals was a 'shock'...

I think the two things you just said: the result and the manner where we conceded the goals. The way the whole game went for us. For me, it felt there were so many positives to take from this game, which has happened to us so many times this season where you felt like there are so many positives to take, except for the result. Then it would've been nice to get that result combined with the performance.

But not for the first time this season we've conceded goals and dropped points... a VAR intervention that leads to a penalty, the first chance they had, which was the 2-2 because the 2-1 wasn't a chance. I think the ball is already out, there was contact, so he gave a penalty. Then the first chance from football of them led to the 2-2. Then we had a fantastic attack to [score] the 3-2. But what we have to do to score a goal is doing many things right. Unfortunately, we concede... I wouldn't say too easy, because we hardly gave away a chance, but when we do it's a goal.

On whether he thinks his squad could be 'mentally weak' after conceding...

I don't feel that. Although it's never nice when you're 2-0 up and you control the game. I think we even had the chance to go 3-0 up with Cody [Gakpo] and a counter. It's not even a dangerous situation that leads to a penalty and then if you play at Leeds, or no matter which stadium you play in the Premier League, then there is belief again.

That belief becomes even stronger if the first chance they have that goes in and it's 2-2, and then I saw mentality – the mentality to come back. Not only mentality but also quality. Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] stepped over the ball… Dom was in the position we wanted him to be in today and finished it off. [The] referee then came with nine minutes of extra time and in that nine minutes of extra time we conceded [from] a set-piece.

On the recent form of Ibrahima Konate...

Unfortunately for him he does a lot of things well, but he has been a bit too much on the crime scene, that is something I've heard people saying before in England. That means he's involved in goals we have conceded. But if you are a centre-back that happens in football. Today it was a tackle that came from effort and you try to do everything to block the cross. The ball went out, player already went down a little bit and then there was contact, that was obvious and clear that there was contact. Now the question is if the VAR interfered for that. Probably a lot of people will say that's correct. But the same people should look at some games this season where the VAR didn't come in moments like this.

On conceding more goals from set-pieces...

It's so much more than you can expect if you look at what to expect from a chance. Do you know then what I mean? We're talking about expected goal value. If you look at that, we haven't even conceded that much from set-pieces. But to concede in a reality term, I don't think there's any team in the world that can be in a higher league position than we are if you concede 10 set-pieces and have not scored in the Premier League once unless you count that Dominik free-kick [against Arsenal]. Maybe one at West Ham, a second-phase throw-in.

Then it's hardly possible to be in a higher position or having more points than we have if you concede so many of those. For me, it's not the set-up, because it's the same set-up as we had last season where we hardly conceded, or not concede at all, in the first half of the season. In this set-up there are a lot of similar players that are mainly important. So, tell me what it is. If I tell you now it's bad luck, then you probably say that's a bit too much after 15 games.

On the opening Joe Gomez had late in the game...

[Gomez's] first touch wasn't perfect and that's why he thought he couldn't go in front of him [the defender] anymore. Maybe if that had been Alex [Isak] or Hugo or Dom, who are attackers, then you get a different first touch than from a centre-back that can play as a full-back. Even after the 3-3, I think we had the biggest chance, so again mentality but again not the result we wanted from that set-piece.

On the nine additional minutes...

What can I say? Everything I say about that is not the right thing to talk about if you've been 2-0 up, 3-2 up and it goes to 3-3. I should talk about these things if we win a game of football.

On the mood within the dressing room after the game...

Really hard but it's not about me. It's about what the players feel, what the fans feel, what everyone who loves this football club feels. I think we all feel the same at this moment. But what I also hope everyone sees is these players are fighting really, really, really hard and combine that with good football. Again today, we hardly conceded a chance. We hardly conceded a chance and concede three goals.

On whether there are any positives he can take from this week as a whole...

I see this but it's not for the first time I see us doing many things well this season without combining the result with the performance. I don't know if you said this, but I can take a lot of positives from this game: if we would have won it with 3-2 or 2-0, I think we would have all said it was a controlled performance, dominant, against a very difficult team to play against because Chelsea experienced it, [Manchester] City experienced it in the second half. They changed their playing style to long ball, long ball, long ball.

They didn't do this before, so it's shown how difficult it is to play against that style. We've known this for a long time because [teams] did this to us already for 14 games, but some other teams are experiencing this now as well. I think we are improving, individuals are improving, performances are improving, but it is hard to take for these players as well that are putting so much effort in, fighting so hard, doing a lot of things well [and] not to get the result.

So many times after each other, I think we can all understand that does something with an individual and with a team. As I said, I will keep reminding everyone about the fact that after the 2-2 I didn't see a team that stopped, I saw a team that came back to 3-2 and after the 3-3 I saw a team that had the biggest chance with Alex's header. We have to do a lot to score a goal, as I've said many times already.