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

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

Defending champions Liverpool are fourth in the table at the halfway stage, after a 0-0 draw with Leeds United on Jan 1.

The Reds 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 Slot, ahead of their Jan 4 trip to Fulham.

“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 also 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, 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.

“When I look at Arsenal, I look at City and I look at us, it’s fair that we are not above them,” he said.

“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 are missing the injured Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah, who is on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Egypt.

Partly because of that, the Reds struggled to impose themselves against Leeds at Anfield, despite dominating possession.

And, despite their seven-game unbeaten run in the league, Slot painted a picture of grinding out results, rather than free-flowing football ahead of the trip to Fulham.

“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.”

The Dutchman expects a more open encounter against Marco Silva’s Fulham, who drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace on Jan 1 and sit 11th in the table before the Jan 3 games.

“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, 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.”

Silva, meanwhile, has also spoken about how he feels about Liverpool’s season.

“I think they started with six wins in a row and everybody was saying they are the same but with some changes. They kept the same winning mentality, they kept the same quality and they kept winning football matches,” he said.

“But then they had the bad run, which isn’t normal for them and then, of course, it had a massive impact on their points and position in the table.

“We can all agree it is not a normal run for them. But I think we will see them back as contenders and fighting for the title.” AFP, REUTERS