Beth Lindop
Arne Slot has described Liverpool’s season so far as a “constant battle” but believes their current fourth-placed position is a fair reflection of their campaign to date.
The Premier League champions extended their unbeaten run to eight games with a goalless draw against Leeds United at Anfield on Thursday, however there was audible frustration in the stadium as the hosts failed to put Daniel Farke’s side under sustained pressure.
The result leaves them in fourth, six points adrift of third-place Aston Villa and 12 points behind leaders Arsenal.
“Realistically I think there are two teams [Arsenal and Manchester City], with Villa being really, really close to them because Arsenal against Villa they created a bit of a gap to Villa but realistically those two teams are quite far away from us and we should not look at those two at this moment in time,” Slot said.
“We have had our struggles throughout. We started really well in terms of results, games were really close, then we had a phase of the season where games were still really close but we were constantly unlucky, now we have been seven or eight 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, it’s two teams quite close to each other. We are mainly the team that is probably better than the other team but not enough.
“We are constantly within this 20 percent difference and if you are inside this 20 percent difference then going to the floor or not means a lot for the results and I will keep pushing and the players will keep pushing to get to a situation where we are more than that 20 percent and we can make the difference bigger and hopefully we can 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 season.”
After a torrid run in which Liverpool lost nine out of 12 games in all competitions, Slot has made his team more difficult to beat in recent weeks.
However, that has come at the expense of the team’s attacking threat — something that has proved unpopular with the fanbase.
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“I think it is clear and obvious that we hardly concede chances anymore,” Slot said. “At this moment in time, against the opponents we had in the last seven or eight games but for me 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.
“What the players try to do is they keep on trying, they bring the ball towards the wingers, they make inside runs, they play and move, they do all the things but sometimes you need a kind of magic to unlock a game or a set-piece and if that then happens then all of a sudden everything looks much nicer but that is not our season until now.”
Asked whether Liverpool’s current position in the table is fair, Slot added: “Yeah, yeah. Although the margins are small.
“So that could have influenced us having three, four, five, six more points, maybe, but yeah like today and like so many other games, if we would have done a bit better in set-pieces and we would have had five six seven points more as well so that could have changed it a little 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, which I just explained but it wouldn’t be fair if we were above them, for the way we have played.”
