Arne Slot explains why he's being stopped from making Liverpool changes - 'Almost impossible'

Arne Slot, pictured speaking with Federico Chiesa

Arne Slot claims it is "almost impossible" to change his Liverpool masterplan at present and has backed himself to once again bring the best out of his struggling players.

The Reds are in the midst of their worst run of form in 72 years after suffering a dreadful 4-1 Champions League reverse at home to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday evening.

It was a ninth defeat in 12 games in all competitions with Liverpool having slumped into the bottom half of the table just six months after romping to a record-equalling 20th championship.

Slot's position as head coach has now come under intense scrutiny ahead of a potentially pivotal week of his tenure, with the trip to West Ham United on Sunday afternoon followed by games at home to Sunderland and away against Leeds United.

And the Dutchman believes that hectic schedule is preventing him from considering any drastic overhaul of his underperforming team.

"Is the question should I change dramatically?" said Slot when asked whether he needed to shake up his starting side. "If for example you want another system with five defenders that could be an issue. I don’t even have five defenders.

"It suits the players best the system we are playing now, they have played this system probably throughout their whole career and there is hardly any training time for us.

“So it is almost impossible to change our complete idea about football if we play every two days."

Remarkably, deposed champions Manchester City went through an even worse run this time last year when they won only one of 13 games, only to ultimately finish third and reach the FA Cup final before embarking on another title challenge this term.

And Slot has used that experience of Pep Guardiola's side as proof Liverpool can still salvage their tortuous campaign.

"I said already multiple reasons, and I can come up with an extra five or six, for why we are on a run of form like this but they will never be enough to make up for the results that we have,"

"I am not sure but Pep will probably have said the same.

"For example, we had injuries last season as well. So it is not like this season we have injuries and last season we didn’t so that helped us with a better run of form.

"But indeed (the example of City can help) because they have quality and we have quality.

“The best chance to come out of a situation like this is that we as a team and me as a manager bring the best out of these players again to bring us back to winning ways.

"If we didn’t have the quality we would have had a big problem. I think we have the quality and we have to bring the best out of them again."

Defeat to PSV matched Liverpool's heaviest home loss in European competition and came just four days after an embarrassing 3-0 Anfieldreverse to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

And asked if he had now reached the lowest ebb of his 18-month Anfield reign, Slot said: "I have already thought a few times that we hit the worst point, or the lowest point.

"Because many times I have said - and actually I still feel this about Wednesday as well - that the score does not reflect the way we played.

“So every time you are thinking we can keep playing the same but hopefully do better because this team should - and can - play better than we do. Make no mistake about that.

"It is not that we perform at the highest standards we can perform at. But you should expect that given the quality we have, that we have reached the lowest point a few times."

promoted link

#ad Liverpool 2025 English League Champions T-Shirt - https://amzn.to/3XXkv3I