Slot Accepts Challenge in Liverpool After Defeat; Analyzes Future

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, although he doesn’t believe his players have lost confidence, acknowledges that he faces a “challenge” at Anfield after Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United. The Reds fell 2-1 at home, with a late goal from Harry Maguire, marking the team’s fourth consecutive defeat, something that hadn’t happened since November 2014. This result puts them in fourth position in the table, four points behind the leader, Arsenal.

I think as a coach, you are constantly facing challenges. When you start, you face the challenge of being a new coach and you need to win matches. Then, if you do well, you go to a bigger club and people say: ‘Let’s see how he does there’.

Arne Slot

Slot, when asked if this is the biggest challenge of his coaching career to date, stated:

Then you become the successor to Jurgen Klopp and people say this is the biggest challenge you’ve faced. And now we’ve lost four times in a row and that’s also a challenge.

Arne Slot

He continued to explain that the life of a football coach is a constant challenge, where the goal is to keep winning or start winning again after a defeat. Slot does not perceive that the team has lost confidence, since in each lost match they have generated a large number of opportunities in the second half.

Slot analyzed the three defeats suffered in the Premier League and suggested that, if the key moments of each match were analyzed, it would be difficult to believe that the team lost. Therefore, he is confident that, maintaining the current performance and improving some aspects, they will win matches again. There was some controversy surrounding Bryan Mbeumo’s goal, as Alexis Mac Allister suffered a head injury in the previous play. However, Slot does not believe that this incident was the reason for the defeat. Slot concluded that the main thing is not to complain or blame, but to recognize that they could have acted better after Mac Allister’s injury. He highlighted the importance of medical attention to a player and the need for immediate treatment, but reiterated that this was not the reason for the defeat, but rather the lack of effectiveness in the numerous goal opportunities. Liverpool will face Eintracht Frankfurt in Wednesday’s Champions League match, seeking to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat, something that hasn’t happened since 1953.