Manager has tried to justify performance levels on the back of heavy summer spending but is right that criticism is warranted
Liverpool’s push for a top-five finish suffered a blow on the south coast as Brighton claimed a 2-1 victory, leaving manager Arne Slot contemplating his side’s overall level this season.
Two goals from Danny Welbeck at the Amex Stadium against an underwhelming Liverpool team proved decisive. The Reds missed the opportunity to strengthen their push for Champions League qualification. They are perhaps only fortunate that rivals Chelsea, who are sixth, equally lost badly to Everton.
But it should worry Liverpool supporters that after winning the league last season and then spending £450m they could end up playing in the Europa League next term.
“Of course now looking at the league table, this loss hurts a lot and it should hurt us a lot,” Slot said. “But the main problem is that we are in this position because we dropped a point at Wolves in the last minute from a deflected shot. That [Tottenham] goal last week in the 90th minute is, I would say, even a bigger problem than losing away at Brighton.”
Liverpool did miss some key figures. Alisson was hurt and could not play. He was replaced by the less assured Giorgi Mamardashvili. Mohamed Salah, who played well against Galatasaray in midweek, was unable to feature due to injury. Hugo Ekitike did start, but was forced off in the opening stages.
“After two minutes, dealing without Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Hugo, we have to find a way of playing players in positions they’re not used to,” Slot said. “We did this quite well in the first half but as the game on, Brighton became stronger and stronger.
“Throughout the second half, they were closer to 3-1 than we were to making it 2-2.”
There has been a lot of scrutiny surrounding Liverpool’s summer spending, giving their poor performances this season. The Brighton defeat was their 10th this season; they have not lost that number of games in over a decade.
Slot said the situation with the team was a lot more complex than just spending £450m, and that no one was mentioning the players they have sold.
“No one in England is used to the fact that there are also clubs that are selling players,” Slot said. “So usually in England when a club is buying £450m like we did, that’s adding that to the already great team you are having.
“But this club has a different model and no one wants to see that and no one wants to understand this, that I can also understand because fans of other teams and certain pundits don’t want to tell you that we sold for £300m.
“Then, the £150m player [Alexander Isak] is never available. That’s already one thing, and Giovanni Leoni has never been available because of his injury. That’s already the second thing, and now we’re already going underneath what we’ve sold. Jeremie Frimpong is recently much more available and Mamardashvili was one of the signings, the second goalkeeper.”
However, if you have sold players who won the title and then made such heavy investment in the transfer market, breaking the league’s transfer record twice in one window, it is more than expected that you face scrutiny for it; and Slot agrees.
“Yes, it makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £450m that the expectations are high, and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans,” Slot said.
“At our club we’re also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic, why the season has gone why it is gone. But still it’s not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with, it’s still not good enough for the position you’re in right now.”
