The Dutch manager has revealed that the Anfield decision-makers agree with his assessment regarding the recent downturn and he refuses to compromise their attacking style in quest for a turnaround. The manager admitted that six unsuccessful results in seven outings was below standard ahead of the weekend fixture with Villa.
Growing Expectations During Tough Spell
Slot accepted the pressure was on before his rotated squad suffered Carabao Cup elimination against their Premier League rivals. However, he emphasized that this urgency to stop the losing streak is not coming from the Anfield hierarchy or football administration following a summer transfer outlay of nearly £450 million.
"They say similar things," stated the manager, whose side will meet Real Madrid in the Champions League and travel to Manchester City in the English top flight.
Squad Quality Remains Unchallenged
Slot believes his team "have an unbelievable squad if they are completely available and completely set for the schedule ahead". He said that the summer investment in talents including the attacking midfielder and the Swedish striker, who is likely to miss out again against Villa through fitness issues, had left the club "in an excellent position for the short-term future and the years to come".
Gelling Difficulties
When questioned about why his team were struggling to integrate, he answered: "That question isn't constructive. 'What are the reasons?' I offer insights and people say I'm making justifications. I can identify several explanations why we are struggling for victories or suffering defeats as we do but, as I consistently state, there are never enough excuses to have a performance streak as we had now."
- Regardless of whether I could come up with numerous reasons
- Leading this club you should not suffer defeats
- In truth six out of seven
Defensive Numbers
Only the Clarets (21) have allowed more significant openings from regular play this season than Slot's team (19). The first-place team, the Gunners, have allowed just two. Yet Slot denies the team has been overly exposed and claims there is no reason to sacrifice his attacking principles for a cautious system after ten fixtures without a shutout.
"In my view we're not giving up numerous openings so I find no basis to alter our approach totally but we need to do better in preventing goals," he stated.
Specific Instances
"Against Manchester United, how many opportunities did we allow? When playing Frankfurt when we were leading 3-1, we scarcely gave up a shot on target. In each fixture we played until now we haven't given up a many opportunities. Absolutely not. We do allow a somewhat more than the prior term but that stems from us being 1-0 down so you take a bit more risk. But overall I don't think that our challenge is that we give up too many openings. Our challenge is we are unable to finish the chances we create."
