Arne Slot makes Liverpool tactics admission amid poor form - 'It does go against my beliefs'

Slot

Arne Slot admits he will not be averse to taking Liverpool back to basics if required to drag them out of their ongoing slump.

But the Reds boss claims not to have yet seen any reason to change the tactical approach of his struggling side.

Liverpool slipped to their sixth defeat in seven games - their worst such run since 2009 - when a much-changed team was dumped out of the League Cup 3-0 at home by Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

The Premier League champions haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 10 games and have conceded the first goal in each of their last seven games,

Liverpool entertain Aston Villa on Saturday evening hoping to avoid losing a fifth successive league game for the first time since 1953/54 - a season when they were last relegated from the top flight.

asked if becoming more cautious in their approach could be a temporary fix to their poor run of form,

Slot said: "It does go against my beliefs, but I have won games in the past - we can talk about (Manchester) City away last season - that went against my beliefs, but it was necessary to play it over there like that in the second half.

"I would be more than open to adapt in certain situations. But I don't think the story, at least in my opinion, is that we concede chance after chance after chance and are too open.

“It's absolutely not like this.”

"Every single game, maybe apart from Palace and Brentford away, all the other games we deserved much more than we got.

“We hardly conceded a chance, even this week with the team I put out which played for the first time together, I think they only conceded three big chances, unfortunately all three went in and that's because they were big chances.

"I don't see us conceding a lot of chances, but I don't see a reason to change our playing style completely. But we need to do better in not conceding goals, that's for sure."

Liverpool and Villa both stand seven points behind leaders Arsenal outside the Champions League places.

“Villa failed to win any of their first five games and were in the relegation zone until a run of four straight wins, the most recent of which saw them defeat Manchester City 1-0 at home last Sunday.”

when asked about the comparison between the Premier League seasons of the two clubs,

Slot said: "It's also a sign it's better to do it the way they did it than the way we did it!

"If you don't win in the beginning, people think 'ah they don't have the same team as last season' and then they start winning and everything is positive again.

"With us, it's exactly the opposite. We are both on the same points and apart from Arsenal many teams are in and around the same points.

“It tells you how hard the Premier League is. Villa have done very well in the last five, six, seven or eight games.

“And it didn't come as a surprise because even in the game they have lost, you could already see the signs they are a very good team and their playing style is very good.

"Normally, although with us the run is already quite long, you don't every time lose a game where you create more chances than the other team.

“They decided not to make a habit out of that, and let's hope we decide not to."

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