Arne Slot admits Liverpool have to be ‘close to perfection’ to secure CL spot
By Eleanor Crooks, Press Association Sport Correspondent
Arne Slot admits he is enduring by far the most challenging season of his managerial career as he attempts to secure Champions League football with Liverpool.
Sunday’s eventful 2-1 loss to Manchester City at Anfield left the reigning Premier League champions in sixth place, five points adrift of Manchester United in fourth.
Slot has faced mounting speculation about his position less than two years after he made the move from Feyenoord to succeed Jurgen Klopp.
“By a mile,” said the Dutchman when asked if it was his most difficult campaign. “Because all the other season I’ve managed there was only positives, I don’t think I’ve ever lost two games in a row (before).
“It’s an exception this season for me, as it is for the players, the players are not used to losing a lot or having a lot of draws.
“It is different with the season we’re having now than all the other seasons I’ve managed where we always did something special – and there’s still the possibility that we can do something special this season as well.”
With United undergoing a revival under Michael Carrick and Aston Villa a further three points ahead, Slot knows the challenge of breaking into the top four is getting more difficult by the week.
He said: “To close the gap of four, five points to third, fourth, fifth, that means you have to win a lot, and that’s not what we’ve done this season. That’s why that has to be better and we have to come close to perfection.
“Margins are indeed very small. Seven minutes before the end we thought we were five points behind City, and five minutes later we were 11 points behind.
“If we don’t have Champions League football, it’s definitely not been an acceptable season. When I arrived here we could only sign Federico Chiesa, and that was after a Europa League season, so that does have an enormous impact in the way this club is run.”
Liverpool will try to bounce back at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday against Sunderland, who boast the only unbeaten home record in the league.
And they will have to do so without Dominik Szoboszlai following his controversial late red card against City for pulling back Erling Haaland.
The decision was widely criticised, with Rayan Cherki’s long-range effort rolling into the net but subsequently disallowed because of the tussle between Szoboszlai and Haaland.
Slot remains magnanimous, though, saying: “My feelings haven’t changed. The moment I saw he got a red card I was disappointed not to have him against Sunderland but, on the other hand, I think the referee did what he had to do.
“That’s not what we like if we love football but it’s the rule book and referees are there to follow the rule book.”
Szoboszlai has been filling in at right-back and, with Joe Gomez only set to return to training on Tuesday, Slot is likely to turn to Curtis Jones or Wataru Endo.
The Liverpool boss expects his side to pick themselves up, adding: “I have to give a lot of credit to my players because we’ve had so many setbacks, so many times we didn’t get what we deserve, but three days later they showed up again and brought in a good performance.”
