Online Reporter
WHEN Liverpool came to Brighton last May, the away end was in party mode at the full-time whistle despite the defeat as they sang and celebrated with inflatables and balloons.
By then, Arne Slot’s side had won the English Premier League football title and a trip to the south coast was another excuse to enjoy themselves. And rightly so.
Ten months on, Liverpool tasted defeat against Fabian Hurzeler’s side again but this time the away end was half empty by the time Slot made his way over to the travelling supporters.
Their latest defeat on Saturday is the 10th in the league this season, making it only the seventh time the reigning Premier League champions have lost 10 or more games during their title defence.
Since starting the campaign with five wins on the trot, Slot’s side have won just nine of their next 26 games in the league. With that kind of form, Liverpool do not look like a team that has it in them to qualify for the Champions League.
It is all but certain that the Premier League will get an extra place in the Champions League and Liverpool currently occupy that fifth spot.
Much had been made in the build-up about the 62 hours Liverpool had to prepare between their Champions League win over Galatasaray at Anfield and this trip to Brighton.
With Alisson and Mohamed Salah forced out with injuries, Liverpool’s situation worsened when striker Hugo Ekitike was forced off early on.
“What went wrong started off with the lead up to this game,” Slot said.
“As so many times has happened this season, when we played a very good game (against Galatasaray) and we thought we could bring that level to the next game, or even better, we had Mo Salah injured, we had Alisson injured and, after two minutes, Hugo Ekitike out.
“That has happened to us so many times this season and what happened to us a lot this season is that the first chance of the other team immediately went in.
“But in the second-half Brighton were the better team and deserved to win.”
Slot was the first to say that his side deserved to lose here and it would hardly have surprised him. Of their 10 Premier League games this season following a Champions League fixture, Liverpool have lost five of them.
Questions have to be asked about fitness and, despite spending £450m in the summer, Liverpool lack proper squad depth.
“It makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £450m that the expectations are high, and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans,” said Slot.
“At our club we’re also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic [about] why the season has gone why it is gone.
“But still it’s not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with — it’s still not good enough for the position we’re in right now.”
Liverpool’s goal at the Amex came from a Brighton mistake and, even after going behind again in the second-half, Slot said that the Seagulls were more likely to make it 3-1 rather than his side earning a draw.
“This is a backwards step for Liverpool,” said former Premier League goalkeeper Rob Green on 5 Live. “You just don’t know what you are getting from this team. The spine of the team is not there. They are looking around saying ‘what’s going on?’. They can’t find an answer.”
As ever, it would be hard to pin the blame entirely on the manager but, ultimately, it is his team that are regularly under-performing.
For a man who has always emphasised his desire to play good football, he cannot have enjoyed what he has seen for bulks of this season.
Liverpool were superb in midweek against Galatasaray but have been woeful in their past three Premier League games picking up just one point against Wolves, Tottenham and Brighton. Those 62 hours between Galatasaray and Brighton are gone and it is now about the next fortnight, where most of the Liverpool players will be on international duty. Slot will know that it may well go a long way to defining his future.
“Let’s hope the national team coaches help us out by not playing 180 minutes over two games,” he pleaded on Match of The Day.
When they come back, Liverpool travel to Manchester City for their FA Cup quarter-final against Pep Guardiola’s side before a trip to Paris to take on Paris St-Germain in the same stage of the Champions League. The return leg at Anfield is six days later. — BBC Sport.
