Liverpool boss Arne Slot has openly admitted the strain he and his squad are under, saying the club is losing more than this club is used to after their bruising 4-1 Champions League defeat to PSV Eindhoven yesterday.
Softfootball understands that the result didn’t just sting; it dragged Liverpool into their worst run of form since the 1953-54 season, with nine losses in their last 12 games. For a team that lifted the Premier League title only months ago, the fall has been shockingly steep.
Slot spoke with a kind of weary honesty after the match, acknowledging the unique weight of expectations at Anfield as revealed by sports expert Fabrizio Romano via his official X account.
Fabrizio tweeted:
Arne Slot: There’s a lot of pressure if you work at a top club, even more so if you losing more than this club is used to.
There is always pressure, last year it was to win the league but now it is a different pressure.
When asked if he felt let down by his players, Slot firmly pushed away the idea.
He said:
No, not at all. Although I do agree that our standards, the team, have not been at the standard we’re used to.
We think we can play better than we do. The focus is on the team not the individuals.
However, the numbers paint a harsh picture. Liverpool have conceded 21 goals in five games, including three straight 3-0 losses. They’ve dropped to 13th in the Champions League league phase and sit 12th in the Premier League, a dramatic contrast to the authority they showed last season.
Their last league result against Nottingham Forest drew intense criticism from the fans and big summer signings. Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkez and others are not helping matters; they haven’t settled or delivered as expected, while defensively the team looks disjointed and oddly fragile.
Slot insists he still feels safe in his job and says the board is backing him, but even he admitted that it would be nice to turn it around and get a victory.
And with Inter Milan next in Europe and West Ham waiting in the league, Liverpool’s window to salvage their season is shrinking fast, and the pressure Slot described is now louder than ever inside Anfield.
