Arne Slot: “We keep fighting” amidst Liverpool crisis
Arne Slot, Liverpool’s coach, has reaffirmed his commitment to “keep fighting” at the club, despite the team’s recent and worrying run of results.
The 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League marked the ninth loss in 12 matches for the “Reds”, who have lost their last three matches by three or more goals.
We’ve had the same conversations since I’ve been here. We keep fighting, we try to improve; that’s what we all try. But the conversations have been the same as since I’ve been here.
Arne Slot
When asked if he is angry with his players, the Liverpool coach added:
“Absolutely not, although I do agree that our standards haven’t been up to what we’re used to and want, so we believe we can play better than we are.”
Last season, when we played well, we focused on individuals and I said it should be about the team. If the opposite happens, it should also be about the team.
There is a lot of pressure if you play or work in a top-level club, and even more if you start losing more matches than this club, these players, or this coach are used to. So there is always pressure. But there was pressure last season for us to win the league and now it’s a different kind of pressure because we have lost many matches.
What it does to me is that I can do the same thing, but I don’t have to play, so maybe my job is a little easier when it comes to this. I think it’s difficult for every player when you’re on a bad run of results if you fall after three minutes and then play a good first half and then, 10 minutes after the break, you concede again.
So we take hit after hit after hit, which is difficult, but that’s why I keep saying that, especially when that happens, we have to keep fighting. That’s what we’ve done so well last season and what this club has been about for so many years. That’s what we expect.
The least that I and we expect is that we do it for 90 minutes, which is not always easy if you receive blow after blow after blow.
Liverpool will travel to West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday, where they could be boosted by the return of goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who missed Wednesday’s match through illness.
Midfielder Florian Wirtz could also be available for selection after a muscle injury, while forward Hugo Ekitike will be assessed after being substituted against PSV due to a back problem.
