Arne Slot admits Liverpool’s season has been ‘constant battle’

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom - Arne Slot says the first half of Liverpool’s season has been a “constant battle”, admitting the Premier League title race appears to be a duel between Arsenal and Manchester City.

Defending champions Liverpool are fourth in the table at the half-way stage, 12 points behind the Gunners and eight behind City following a 0-0 draw with Leeds on Jan 1.

Third-placed Aston Villa are six points clear of the Reds.

Slot’s team have recovered ground after a terrible run of nine defeats in 12 matches in all competitions starting in late September but they remain well off the pace.

“Realistically, those two teams (Arsenal and City) are quite far away from us and we should not look at those two at this moment in time,” said the Liverpool boss.

“We have had our struggles throughout. Now we have been seven (league) games in a row unbeaten but if you say this you feel like, ‘They are flying through the league’, but that is not what we are doing.

“Every single game we play it’s hard work. We are mainly the team that is probably better than the other team but not enough.”

Slot said he and his men would keep working to “find a moment where we can fly through the season”.

“But for the first 19 games it has been a constant battle, close to each other, sometimes a bit lucky, sometimes a bit unlucky,” he admitted.

Slot, who won the Premier League in his first campaign at Anfield, believes fourth place is a fair reflection of Liverpool’s season so far.

“Although the margins are small so that could have influenced us having three, four, five, six more points maybe,” he said ahead of their Jan 4 trip to Fulham.

“But from open play, from where we are, when I look at Arsenal, I look at City and I look at us, it’s fair that we are not above them.

“That we are so many points behind them, there are reasons for that but it wouldn’t be fair if we were above them for the way we have played.”

Liverpool, currently missing the injured Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah, who is on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt, struggled to impose themselves against Leeds at Anfield despite dominating possession.

“I think it is clear and obvious that we hardly concede chances any more,” said Slot.

But he added: “It is also clear and obvious that we find it quite hard to generate enough chances for all the ball possession we have and that is not new for us this season.”

Despite a seven-game unbeaten run in the league which steadied the ship after six losses in seven games prior, Slot painted a picture of grinding results rather than free-flowing football ahead of the Jan 4 trip to Fulham.

“Every single game we play, it is hard work. It is two teams quite close to each other,” Slot told reporters.

“We are mainly the team that are probably better than the other team but not enough. We are constantly within this 20 per cent difference and if you are inside this 20 per cent difference then going to the floor or not means a lot for the result.

“I will keep pushing and the players will keep pushing to get to a situation where we are more than that 20 per cent, we can make the difference bigger and then hopefully we are finding a moment when we can fly through the season.”

Two-team race

Slot also said Liverpool cannot be considered title contenders at the moment with Arsenal and Manchester City - separated by four points - too far ahead, while Aston Villa have also fallen by the wayside after their defeat against the league leaders.

“Realistically, I think there are two teams... with Villa being really close to them but because Arsenal won against Villa they created a bit of a gap (six points) towards Villa as well,” Slot said.

“Realistically, those two teams are quite far away from us and we should not look at those two at this moment in time.”

While Liverpool have tightened up defensively, Slot highlighted ongoing struggles in attack despite dominating possession.

“It is clear and obvious we find it quite hard to generate enough chances for all the ball possession we have and that’s not new for us this season,” he said.

“Sometimes you need a bit of magic to unlock a game or a set-piece. If that happens, then all of a sudden everything looks much nicer, but that is not our season until now.”

Slot expects a more open encounter against Marco Silva’s Fulham, who drew with Crystal Palace on Jan 1 and sit 11th in the table.

“I expect a different game against Fulham... When we’ve played them and what I’ve seen from them, and they play a home game, so I think they will try to attack a lot and want to have the ball a lot,” he said.

“At least that is how I know their manager, so it probably will be a much more open game. So we have to show in games like that we don’t concede a lot as well.” AFP