Manager says last season’s success offers him no protection if results continue to be poor
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said the situation at the club is “ridiculous” and he feels personally guilty for their dreadful run of results.
Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest was Liverpool’s sixth loss in seven Premier League matches and the eighth in their last 11 games across all competitions.
It is the worst run of Slot’s managerial career and a dramatic downturn for a side that lifted the league title just months ago.
Slot said the scale of the slump has stunned everyone at the club.
“Ridiculous, almost,” said Liverpool’s manager. “Something I didn’t expect to be in, not at any club I worked at let alone if you are the manager of Liverpool. That is unbelievable.
“It is unexpected for the club, for me, for everyone, but we are also working at a club that if you ever needed to face this maybe this is the best club to face it.”
Slot cancelled a planned appearance at the Northern Football Writers’ Association awards ceremony, where he was due to collect the manager of the year award, because of the optics after just losing 3-0 to Forest at Anfield.
The Dutchman guided Liverpool to the title in his debut season, but the 47-year-old insisted that success offers no protection if results continue to be poor.
“You cannot say: ‘We won the league’, or ‘We did this or that’ and now it’s OK,” said Slot. “If you work at this level the next game is always the most important and you have to prove yourself every single time.
Liverpool spent around £450m in the summer transfer window, breaking the Premier League transfer record twice. Naturally this has piled on even more pressure than would normally have been the case.
Despite notable summer departures such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz, there are still quality players in the team, so the slump might be a question of mentality and the right configuration. Slot admitted he must take the blame.
“It’s lower than the level expected at Liverpool,” said Slot. “For sure I take the responsibility and I feel guilty for it.”
