Liverpool’s stance on Arne Slot has been revealed after the Reds suffered their sixth defeat in seven games and crashed out of the Carabao Cup.
The reigning Premier League champions have endured a miserable run under Slot, losing four league games in a row to slip to seventh in the table, seven points behind leaders Arsenal.
Liverpool’s dismal form continued in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night as a much-changed team lost 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
Slot made ten changes from the side that were beaten by Brentford at the weekend but an inexperienced XI – which included three teenagers – were outplayed by Palace.
Ismaila Sarr scored twice in four minutes just before half-time before Yeremy Pino put the game to bed with Palace’s third late on as the Eagles sealed their third win of the season over Liverpool.
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Another difficult night for the Reds was made even worse when 18-year-old defender Amara Nallo was sent off just 12 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Slot was expected to rest several first-team stars but his radical team selection was widely criticised as Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike were all given the night off.
The tests do not get much easier for Liverpool, who host Aston Villa on Saturday before facing Real Madrid and Manchester City in the space of a week.
While Slot lifted the Premier League trophy in his first season at Anfield, Liverpool’s shocking run has led to speculation over the Dutchman’s future at the club.
However, BBC Sport say there is ‘no chance’ that Liverpool will evaluate Slot’s future and insist he still has ‘plenty of credit in the bank’.
‘Liverpool is a calm club internally, not given to hasty, panicky decisions, certainly not when it involves a manager who won the Premier League last season,’ a report said.
‘Liverpool’s owners are measured. They saw Slot win the title in his first season and I am sure there will be an acceptance and understanding that there has also been a lot of change in the summer.’
While Slot appears to have the backing of his bosses, for the time being at least, a number of Liverpool fans criticised his team selection against Crystal Palace.
But the ex-Feyenoord defended his tactics after the Carabao Cup exit, saying: ‘I haven’t changed my mind after the game. Even with our starters we have struggled to find a result against Crystal Palace.’
Asked if he can pinpoint the main reason for Liverpool’s abysmal form, Slot added: ‘You have every option where you can choose from, but the reality is also that there is not a lot of reasons why we have lost five out of six.
‘None of them are enough to make up for the fact we have lost so many. It is clear in the last few weeks we have always had to play two days after we played the last game after a difficult game in Europe.
‘If you look at the week coming up, that is going to be a big week for us, everyone and the club. We need as many players available as we can.
‘You can see today with the line-up I had to make. I only rested the players that have played mainly in the last week. This is the line-up you get.
‘That shows you we already have a few injuries. With a big week coming up for me, it felt the best choice.
‘Combined with that, this club has always chosen in the League Cup to give playing time to young academy players as well.
‘Our squad is probably not as big as people think it is. There has not been a change in the way we look at this.’
Ex-Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock was left ‘quite disappointed’ by Slot’s post-match interview and accused the Anfield boss of ‘deflecting and making excuses’.
‘Arne Slot has almost admitted there that the squad is not strong enough,’ he said on BBC Radio 5 Live. ‘I was quite disappointed in that interview.
‘It was very much deflecting and making excuses. You’re a team in the Champions League, yet you’re moaning that you’re playing a game two days later. You know that is going to happen.
‘I felt there were a lot of excuses in there. You know your squad depth isn’t the best then your business hasn’t been good enough in the summer.’
Liverpool’s next opponents, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, beat Manchester City last time out.
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