Arne Slot addresses Liverpool sack pressure after PSV loss

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed mounting pressure after his side’s disappointing 4-1 loss to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League in midweek.

Liverpool’s loss to PSV added to their already abysmal form in the last 12 games in all competitions for the Reds. They have recorded nine losses in that period.

Their latest came at the back of a 3-0 loss at Anfield to Nottingham Forest over the weekend in the Premier League, mounting pressure on the reigning champions.

The defeat by PSV meant three successive losses by a three-goal margin. They are 12th in the Premier League on 18 points after 12 matches, having lost six of their last seven matches in the competition ahead of the trip to West Ham on Sunday.

Speaking in a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Slot was asked whether he had spoken to sporting director Richard Hughes since the PSV defeat.

He replied: “We had the same conversation since I’ve been here.

“I’m not sure if I said last night, but we fight on try to improve. The conversations have been the same as for the past one and a half years.”

Asked if he felt let down by his players, Slot responded: “No, not at all. Although I do agree with you that out standards have not been up to the standards that we’re used to and we want. But last year when we did really well there was a focus on certain individuals, but I’ve always said it’s about the group.”

He promised to “keep fighting, no matter how difficult it is, we need to fight together”.

Arne Slot addressing the media on Thursday after Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat to PSV in the UCL

The 47-year-old later admitted to the mounting pressure in his second season, having already hit the ground running in the last campaign to lift the Premier League in his first season in England.

“A lot of pressure if you work at a top club, even more so if you losing more than this club is used,” he said.

“There is always pressure, last year it was to win the league but now it is a different pressure. Maybe my job is easier because I don’t have to play. It’s hard for every player, when we go down after five minutes and play well first half and then we concede second half, so we get knock after knock after knock.

“So we keep fighting. It is what we did so well last year and it is the minimum we expect over 90 minutes.”

Asked what he could do differently, Slot said: “It’s not easy to say what I can do different. If you win, lose or draw you reflect on decisions you do in the week, maybe you do it more if you lose.

“We try to find the answer we need to win a game. In the end it’s about doing what this club is about – keep fighting, we have to fight together. It would also be nice if we reward ourselves in the moments we play well, because there are large parts when we do. Every small mistake or error leads to us conceding a goal. “

“I feel I am okay with my position,” Slot said after the humiliating PSV defeat. “I’ve been feeling safe. I’ve got a lot of support from above. They are helpful to me, but they don’t phone me every single minute of the day to tell me they trust me. I feel the trust ,but I haven’t spoken to them after this game.”