Arne Slot: Liverpool boss says poor form 'ridiculous' and 'unbelievable' as he admits he 'feels guilty for it'

Liverpool boss Arne Slot feels guilty for his side's "ridiculous" and "unbelievable" slump this season.

The reigning Premier League champions suffered a 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday - a sixth loss in seven league matches - leaving them 11th, the first time in more than a decade the club have been in the bottom half of the table. Then then dropped to 12th following Merseyside rivals Everton's win over Man Utd on MNF.

Ahead of Wednesday's Champions League home game against PSV Eindhoven, Slot said of their woeful form: "I would describe it as ridiculous, almost. Something I did not expect to be in.

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"Not at any club I was going to work at, let alone Liverpool. That is unbelievable.

"If you can find an excuse, you will never find enough excuses to make you perform like this. Unexpected for the club, for me and everyone.

"But I am working at a club where if you need to face it, this is the best club to face it. The harder it gets at a club like this, the more we are together to achieve the things Liverpool usually achieve."

Last season, Liverpool conceded 41 goals as they stormed to the Premier League title. This term, they have already shipped 20 goals in the opening 12 matches.

"Conceding far more goals than last season. The amount of goals we have conceded and the amount of goals from set-pieces is close to ridiculous for a club like us.

"The biggest one is the goals we concede. From open play, we are still able to generate enough chances to get a result."

He added: "I take the responsibility and feel guilty for it."

Slot slams 'unacceptable' form

Liverpool have suffered eight defeats in their last 11 matches in all competitions, with Saturday's 3-0 home loss to Forest equalling their worst Premier League loss at Anfield.

When asked about what his side could learn from the defeats in the build-up to their next fixture, Slot said: "It's difficult to say at this moment.

"I have said quite a lot of times, there are certain things that you can do better but this hasn't helped and hasn't been of use.

"You can think of quite a lot of reasons why you have lost. From our perspective, at Liverpool Football Club, it is not acceptable.

"It is a situation you do not want to have. Now it is time to start winning matches again but you have to do a lot to win a match.

"The simple things, they must do better. That is what we are not doing and that is quite easy to solve. Simple football is the most difficult thing."

'We haven't lost fight'

Liverpool's players have been criticised for lacking the heart for a battle when the chips are down, and, after the defeat to Forest, captain Virgil van Dijk called for the squad to take more individual responsibility.

Slot does not agree that his players are shirking their responsibility but believes the tactics being employed against them are resulting in players lacking concentration at crucial times.

Asked whether they had lost the ability to fight, Slot said: "No, no we haven't. But in moments of games we have lost too many duels.

"I think the last game we played we had 75 per cent possession, which means you only have to defend 25 per cent of the time and I think in and around our box we only had to defend four times.

"If I have to defend for half-an-hour I am in defend mode, so I just throw myself at every ball, but when our defenders and maybe even including the goalkeeper are thinking about ball possession and then in the moment they have to defend, we are not as switched on as we should be."

Despite their domestic struggles, Liverpool are eighth in the Champions League table, three points behind leaders Bayern Munich, and in the final spot for automatic qualification for the last 16.

Playmaker Florian Wirtz has not recovered from a muscle injury in time to be involved.

Robertson: Liverpool criticism is justified but good times will return

Andy Robertson says criticism of Liverpool's form is justified and has urged his team-mates to stay off social media, but believes the good times will return.

He told Sky Sports' One on One podcast: "The standards of this football club have been set for years and years and years, and when you become below that, then the criticism becomes higher and higher.

"We can't have any problems with the criticism that's coming our way at the minute. It's justified because of the position we're in and the results we've been having. But it's up to us to now stay together.

"It's up to us to try and bring the best version of ourselves, and if we do that, then we have enough quality in the squad that we'll get better results.

"It's important now that people don't lose the belief in their ability, the confidence that they have, and it's important that we all stick together within the training ground.

"And if we do that, then that gives us the best possible chance to get out of this. But we obviously need to start showing consistency in our work again. That's been a problem."

Gakpo: Forest loss led to honest conversations between us

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo admitted "honest" words had been exchanged among the squad about recent poor performances.

"After the game on Saturday it was a kind of embarrassment because we lost 3-0 at home in front of our own fans, which is not good," said the Dutchman, who will face former club PSV Eindhoven for the second successive season in the Champions League.

"In the days after that we were, I don't want to say angry, but we tried to speak together and be honest with each other what we have to do to perform better on the pitch.

"Everybody is aware we have to take responsibility on and off the pitch. This was a conversation you have with a team-mate.

"It wasn't really a 'meeting' meeting but we are aware we have to take responsibility, that we have to do better with certain things on the pitch. That's what we spoke about.

"We are honest because otherwise there's no point in speaking. We also know we have to stick together and that's what we will try to do again to put in good performances and get wins.

"The coach takes responsibility but the players have a big responsibility to ourselves and the manager and the fans.

"We know what we can do but we aren't letting it be seen."

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