•Arne Slot
Arne Slot insisted he is confident of avoiding the sack despite troubled Liverpool’s dismal 4-1 defeat against PSV Eindhoven yesterday.
Slot’s side crashed to a ninth defeat in their last 12 matches in all competitions to leave the Dutchman under mounting pressure, reports AFP.
Liverpool’s numerous flaws were brutally exposed by PSV in a Champions League demolition that sparked recriminations as frustrated fans jeered Slot and his players at the final whistle.
The unusual sight of empty red seats around Anfield well before full-time delivered a damning verdict on Liverpool’s astonishing fall from grace this season.
Beaten 3-0 by Nottingham Forest at Anfield last weekend, Liverpool have lost three successive games, conceding 10 goals in the process.
It is their worst run since 1953-54 and Slot is facing pointed questions about his ability to turn the tide.
Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard added to the pressure on Slot with a damning verdict on their plight.
“With each defeat it gets closer to being a crisis,” Gerrard told TNT Sport.
“There is no excuses for a performance like that at this football club. You cannot deny the team is struggling massively.
“They are on a terrible run, their confidence is at an all-time low, they are wide open. Unless the manager can find answers and stability in his team, then this situation is going to continue.”
But despite enduring Liverpool’s second-heaviest European defeat, Slot is adamant he retains the support of US-based owners Fenway Sports Group.
“I am feeling safe, I am OK. I have got a lot of support from above,” he said.
“It would be nice to turn it around and get a victory, of course, but if you are not doing well then it is normal that questions are asked.
“I am OK with my position. It is not the first time I’ve been in a difficult position but it is about time that we turned it around.
“I’m not worried. What I mean by that is my focus is on other things than on my own position. I need to do better and that’s what I’m trying to do every single day.”
‘I don’t have the answers’
Liverpool trailed to Ivan Perisic’s early penalty and Dominik Szoboszlai’s equaliser did nothing to galvanise them.
Second-half goals from Guus Til and Couhaib Driouech, who netted twice, condemned the woeful Premier League champions to their latest humiliation.
The Reds, losers in six of their last seven Premier League matches, were expected to dominate on all fronts this term after following last season’s title triumph with a summer spending spree.
But Liverpool head to West Ham on Sunday languishing in 12th place in the Premier League — the first time in more than a decade they have been in the bottom half of the table.
With their title hopes in tatters, Liverpool can’t be certain of reaching the Champions League last 16 either after a second defeat in five games in the tournament.
It was their first home defeat in the opening phase of the Champions League in five years.
The Reds are in 13th place in the league phase, with the top eight automatically qualifying for the last 16.
Slot tried to keep a united group as he called for players and the coaches to take responsibility for the remarkable collapse.
“I think it is always about the team and I think we can all do better; individuals you are talking about but it goes down to everyone including myself,” he said.
“I don’t think this is the time to emphasise individual errors.”
But Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones was far more acerbic in a blunt assessment of their unexpected struggles.
“I don’t have the answers. Honestly, I don’t. It’s just unacceptable. I’m past being angry inside,” Jones told RTE.
“We’re going to try and get this team back to where it needs to be, show everyone again what this club is about and why people call it the best team in the world but right now… it needs to change.”
