Ian Kennedy
Reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside Sport

Image source, Getty Images

The Arne Slot era got off to a winning start at Ipswich – a good second-half performance and a clean sheet in what might have been a really awkward opening game.

Afterwards, he pointed to a few things that needed attention – like not winning enough duels in the first half for example, and he is clearly a coach that always looks for improvement.

In the context of no summer signings so far, he was still able to name an incredibly strong bench of substitutes. The options are there and he is clearly not afraid to use them. We saw the introduction of Ibrahima Konate at half-time, with Cody Gakpo, Kostas Tsimikas and Conor Bradley coming on later. He still had the likes of Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott up his sleeve if required.

So plenty of positives, not least Ryan Gravenberch’s performance in that much talked about number six role. He looked very much at home and it will be interesting to see how often he plays there.

Sunday’s opponents Brentford will also have noted that Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota are already off the mark. It is early days of course, but after an excellent pre-season and an opening-day victory, the signs are looking promising for the new head coach.