Arne Slot has admitted he feels guilty about Liverpool’s “ridiculous” slump, a collapse that no one at the club envisaged, and said he must prove himself to everyone at Anfield on a daily basis.
Slot is dealing with the worst run of his managerial career after Nottingham Forest inflicted a sixth defeat in seven Premier League games, and eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions, on the champions on Saturday. Cody Gakpo described the 3-0 reverse at home to Sean Dyche’s team as a “kind of embarrassment”.
Liverpool host PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday and Slot revealed their predicament has stunned the entire club. “Ridiculous, almost. Something I didn’t expect to be in, not at any club I worked at let alone if you are the manager of Liverpool. That is unbelievable,” he said.
Slot cancelled an appearance at the Northern Football Writers’ Association awards ceremony on Sunday to work on a solution. Despite winning the Premier League title in his debut season, Slot claimed he must prove himself every day. “You cannot say: ‘We won the league’, or ‘We did this or that’ and now it’s OK,” he said. “If you work at this level the next game is always the most important and you have to prove yourself every single time.”
Virgil van Dijk said Liverpool were “in a mess” and questioned whether every player was taking responsibility. Gakpo added: “After the game on Saturday it was a kind of embarrassment because we lost 3-0 at home in front of our own fans. … Everybody is aware we have to take responsibility on and off the pitch.”
