LIVERPOOL, England — Arne Slot said Liverpool’s dismal run of form is “not good enough,” but does not believe Wednesday’s 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace increases the pressure on his team.
Liverpool have now lost six of their past seven games in all competitions, with Palace consigning the Premier League champions to a 3-0 defeat at Anfield thanks to goals from Ismaïla Sarr and Yeremy Pino.
Slot rested a number of senior players against Oliver Glasner’s side, making 10 changes from the team that lost at Brentford last weekend.
“It’s always a blow to lose a game of football, especially if it leads to going out of a competition,” Slot said. “But it’s the same selection I did tonight as I did last season in rounds like this.
“There are many reasons maybe why we’ve lost six out of seven. None of them are good enough to accept losing so many. So I can come up with arguments or reasons, but none of them will be enough. Because at Liverpool, losing five or six, six or seven is always too much.”
He added: “If you’re on a run of results like this, if you play for Liverpool, if you manage Liverpool, you know the pressure is there. And I don’t think it has changed much after this loss, but if it did, then the most positive thing about tonight was that the position we were in at 2-0 down and we weren’t really pushing for a goal. The fans were behind the team, were supporting us and that gives me the feeling that Saturday when our players will show how much it means to them, our fans will be incredibly supportive.”
Liverpool could be boosted by the return to fitness of Ryan Gravenberch for this weekend’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa, though striker Alexander Isak, who was forced off with a groin problem against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Oct. 22, remains a doubt.
“I think Ryan has a good chance,” Slot said. “The other ones, let’s wait and see tomorrow and Friday. I don’t know all of them, but I think Ryan has the best chance from all of [the injured players].”