Liverpool boss Arne Slot says he feels guilty for his side’s “ridiculous” and “unbelievable” slump this season after a 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday — their sixth loss in seven league matches. The reigning Premier League champions sit 11th, the first time in more than a decade the club have been in the bottom half of the table, and dropped to 12th after Everton’s win over Manchester United on Monday night.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League home game against PSV Eindhoven, Slot described the run of results as “ridiculous, almost. Something I did not expect to be in… Not at any club I was going to work at, let alone Liverpool. That is unbelievable.” He added: “If you can find an excuse, you will never find enough excuses to make you perform like this. Unexpected for the club, for me and everyone.”
Slot warned the defensive woes must be addressed. Last season Liverpool conceded 41 goals en route to the title; this term they have shipped 20 in the opening 12 matches. “Conceding far more goals than last season. The amount of goals we have conceded and the amount of goals from set-pieces is close to ridiculous for a club like us,” he said. “The biggest one is the goals we concede. From open play, we are still able to generate enough chances to get a result.” He took responsibility, saying: “I take the responsibility and feel guilty for it.”
Liverpool have suffered eight defeats in their last 11 matches in all competitions, with the 3-0 loss to Forest equalling their worst Premier League defeat at Anfield. When asked what could be learned from recent defeats, Slot said it was hard to pinpoint: “You can think of quite a lot of reasons why you have lost. From our perspective, at Liverpool Football Club, it is not acceptable… Now it is time to start winning matches again but you have to do a lot to win a match. The simple things, they must do better. That is what we are not doing and that is quite easy to solve. Simple football is the most difficult thing.”
Slot rejected suggestions the squad had lost its fighting spirit but blamed lapses in concentration and being outmuscled in key moments. “No, no we haven’t. But in moments of games we have lost too many duels,” he said. He pointed to a possession imbalance that can leave players unprepared: “I think the last game we played we had 75 per cent possession… If I have to defend for half-an-hour I am in defend mode… when our defenders and maybe even including the goalkeeper are thinking about ball possession and then in the moment they have to defend, we are not as switched on as we should be.”
Despite domestic struggles, Liverpool sit third in their Champions League group with eight points, three behind leaders Bayern Munich and occupying the final automatic qualification spot for the last 16. Playmaker Florian Wirtz has not recovered from a muscle injury in time to be involved.
Captain Virgil van Dijk called for more individual responsibility after the Forest defeat, and Andy Robertson said criticism of Liverpool’s form is justified. On Sky Sports’ One on One podcast Robertson urged team-mates to stay off social media and stick together: “The standards of this football club have been set for years and years… It’s up to us to try and bring the best version of ourselves… it’s important that people don’t lose the belief in their ability.”
Forward Cody Gakpo said honest conversations had taken place within the squad following the Forest loss. “After the game on Saturday it was a kind of embarrassment because we lost 3-0 at home in front of our own fans… In the days after that we were, I don’t want to say angry, but we tried to speak together and be honest with each other what we have to do to perform better on the pitch,” he said. “Everybody is aware we have to take responsibility on and off the pitch… The coach takes responsibility but the players have a big responsibility to ourselves and the manager and the fans. We know what we can do but we aren’t letting it be seen.”