Liverpool manager Arne Slot disagreed with Virgil van Dijk’s conclusion that some members of the squad were shirking their responsibilities, instead heaping the blame solely onto himself during a remarkably outspoken appraisal.
A visibly angry Van Dijk questioned the attitude of his teammates in the aftermath of Saturday’s dismal 3–0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, admitting that the players were letting Slot down during what he labelled “a mess.”
“You should be angry,” the Dutch skipper demanded. Slot adhered to that brief but disagreed with the idea of questioning his players’ character.
The manager was specifically asked if his squad had lost their fight after six defeats in seven Premier League games. “No, no we haven’t,” he insisted. “But in moments of games we have lost too many duels.”
Slot argued it was a question of attention rather than attitude. “I think the last game we played we had 75% possession, which means you only have to defend 25% of the time and I think in and around our box we only had to defend four times,” the Dutch boss outlined.
“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.”
