🔗 Share this article

The Dutch manager has revealed that the Anfield decision-makers agree with his assessment regarding the recent downturn and he will not abandon their forward-thinking philosophy in pursuit of a improvement. The tactician admitted that six unsuccessful results in seven matches was below standard ahead of Saturday's match against Aston Villa.

Growing Expectations During Difficult Period

Slot accepted the pressure was on before his altered lineup suffered Carabao Cup elimination against Crystal Palace. However, he maintained that this urgency to stop the losing streak is not coming from the Anfield hierarchy or football administration following a summer transfer outlay of almost £450m.

"They say similar things," remarked the manager, whose team next week face the Spanish giants in the European competition and travel to Pep Guardiola's side in the English top flight.

Player Depth Continues Unquestioned

Liverpool's manager thinks his team "boast a remarkable roster if they are completely available and fully prepared for the schedule ahead". He noted that the transfer window acquisitions in players such as the attacking midfielder and the forward, who is likely to miss out again against the Birmingham club through injury, had left the club "in such a good place for the short-term future and the long-term future".

Team Cohesion Issues

When questioned about why his team were taking so long to gel, he replied: "That's not particularly helpful. 'What's causing this?' I give an explanation and people say I'm making justifications. I can list five or six reasons why we are struggling for victories or experiencing losses as we do but, as I consistently state, there are insufficient justifications to have a results sequence as we had now."

• Regardless of whether I could come up with multiple factors
• As Liverpool manager you must avoid losses
• Unfortunately six losses from seven matches

Backline Performance

Only Burnley (twenty-one) have conceded more clear opportunities from regular play this season than Slot's team (nineteen). The league leaders, the North London club, have allowed just two. Yet Slot denies the defense has been too vulnerable and maintains there is no justification to abandon offensive philosophy for a defensive approach after ten fixtures without a clean sheet.

"In my view we're not giving up numerous openings so I see no justification to alter our approach completely but we need to do better in keeping clean sheets," he said.

Recent Examples

"Against Manchester United, how many chances did we concede? Against Eintracht Frankfurt when we were 3-1 up, we scarcely gave up a effort at our net. In each fixture we played until now we haven't conceded a lot of chances. Definitely not. We do allow a bit more than the prior term but that stems from us being 1-0 down so you play more openly. But typically I don't believe that our issue is that we give up too many openings. Our problem is we fail to convert the chances we create."