Dominik Szoboszlai backs Arne Slot to find solutions to Liverpool problems - 'Everything has to change'

Dominik Szoboszlai

Liverpool's status as Premier League champions has made them marked men this season.

That's the opinion of Dominik Szoboszlai, who concedes that a difficult few months have left confidence levels on the floor at Anfield.

Wednesday's 1-1 home draw with Sunderlandnow sees the Reds on a sequence of just four wins from their last 14 matches, dating back to late September's reverse at Crystal Palace.

It's been a chastening period for a Liverpoolside who won the title with four games to spare and by 10 points last season and they head into the weekend's set of fixtures, away to Leeds United, 11 points behind leaders Arsenal.

It's a statistic that has led to several rescaling the extent of the Reds' ambitions for the campaign, with it put to Arne Slot in his Friday press conference that simply qualifying for the Champions League next season would now represent success.

Such talk can take a back seat as far as Szoboszlai is concerned, however.

The No.8 has arguably been the team's standout performer of what has been an otherwise ordinary campaign as defending champions and he feels the gold badges on the sleeves of their shirts, which indicate their title triumph last time out, are acting as a red rags to the opposition

Szoboszlai

"I think that (accepting this would be a harder season) was obvious because everyone wants to win against the champions,"

“We came into the season knowing we would like to do it again. Don't get me wrong, we are not here to lose. We want to be as smooth as possible, but sometimes it doesn't work.

"Sometimes they find a solution to play against us and they find out how they can hurt us - play long balls, win second balls, getting dirty, crosses, set-pieces, long throw-ins, whatever.

"That is what we have to find solutions and answers for. Everything has to change a little bit and then it's going to be all right.

“Right now I think we should focus first on us, and not on the top four. I think there is a long way to go. We have seen many, many comebacks in the history of the Premier League.

"But first of all, we have to focus on us, (take it) game by game. First we have to win games and then we can talk about anything else, but the most important thing is getting the three points over the line.

"It doesn't matter how. We could do it at the weekend but we couldn't do it today (against Sunderland). But the good thing in the Premier League is we have so many games.

Saturday, we can go again and try again. It is not going to be easy because Leeds have a great team. They won against Chelsea and they are full of motivation. But, yeah, we have to give our best.

"When you are not winning games, the confidence obviously goes down a little bit. But I think we are professional enough to get confidence even from your own mind or from somebody else.

“We talk to each other and give each other confidence during the games and during the sessions and once it clicks then hopefully nobody can stop us."

Such a poor return over the last two months has seen head coach Slot come under fire but Szoboszlai is backing the Dutch boss to get it right,

Szoboszlai adding: "There's ups and downs. In the first season, we won the Premier League.

“Now, there are situations we have to find a solution for. He will find a solution, but it is not only him. It is also us players because we are on the pitch.

“He can give the structure and the ideas. Even if they are good, we have to give our best and that is what we try to do every game.

"That is what we are trying to do, to get back to winning ways. That is what we are working on every day, trust me.

“When you wake up in the morning, your head is like 'Let's find a solution to win on the weekend or during the week'.

“That is what we are trying to do but somehow, it doesn't work out as well as we would like. That's football. That's why we love football. Sometimes it is hard, but hard times make you stronger.

"It is important to me. It is something that as a Liverpool player, we shouldn't be accepting to be in this situation, to draw at home.

"Sunderland have a great team, of course, but if we were in the same situation last year, there is no way we would lose points at home. That is what we are missing now, I think.

"We have to get back to winning ways, but there is a lot of work to do. I try and we try our best every game. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's the whole package, the whole team and the whole situation, we have to find answers for it.

"I think we have the people who can come up with some ideas, and then we will see."