- Liverpool beaten 2-1 away at Brighton
- Arne Slot makes no excuses
- Pressure growing on Dutch coach
Last season, as Liverpool triumphantly hoisted the Premier League title aloft, the Reds only lost four league games.
Now, their form makes for far bleaker reading, with the 2-1 loss suffered at the hands of Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday lunchtime, going down as their crushing tenth league defeat of the entire campaign.
Arne Slot’s position as Liverpool manager is surely under great threat, off the back of such a feeble performance on the South Coast.
Indeed, for all of Liverpool’s firepower, courtesy of £116m man Florian Wirtz, the Merseyside giants were undone by Danny Welbeck. The ex-Manchester United striker continues to enjoy a remarkable late-career resurgence.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Liverpool just continue to hit new lows, with Slot cutting a sheepish figure at the full-time whistle, after looking full of life again at the close of the Reds’ 4-0 Champions League win versus Galatasaray.
Select List Of Premier League Winning Managers Sacked by Their Clubs:
| Manager | Club |
| Claudio Ranieri | Leicester City |
| Jose Mourinho | Chelsea |
| Antonio Conte | Chelsea |
| Roberto Mancini | Manchester City |
Slot’s post-match comments after Brighton
Slot would join a very exclusive list of managers who have been sacked after lifting the Premier League title, if the powers that be at Anfield finally decide enough is enough.
The ex-PSV Eindhoven manager, when speaking to the media after the 2-1 defeat, was quick to praise Brighton, who he admitted were the “better team” across the duration of the contest at the Amex.
He said: “First half was an equal game.
It was a big blow for us that one of our two strikers that we have available with Hugo [Ekitike] and Alex [Isak] was already not here and the other one has to go off after one or two minutes – that is usually not helpful, especially when you look at how well Hugo played Wednesday.
The first half was equal and the second half, Brighton were the better team on the pitch.”
He also answered questions about Liverpool’s disastrous ten defeats head-on, as the Reds now sit on just four Premier League wins from their last 13 outings in the demanding division.
Slot further stated: “It is clear that we have lost a lot of points after playing in Europe.
I have tried to explain a lot of times already why this is but today we also have to give credit to Brighton. In the second half, they were the better team on the pitch.”
There is some weight behind these comments, considering the Reds slumped to a disappointing 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, a couple of days on from a trip to Istanbul in the Champions League.
Moreover, the Reds lost on their travels to AFC Bournemouth at the close of January, after winning with style versus Marseille.
He can’t just use these excuses; however, as the pressure is clearly getting to him.
He concluded: “There is always pressure at Liverpool. On me, on the players. That is completely normal. We have qualified for the quarter finals of the FA Cup and the Champions League, but in the league we need to make sure that in the end, we qualify for the Champions League.
As much as I dislike us losing here today, Brighton away has always been a difficult one and will always be a difficult one as long as they keep bringing in so many good players. But there are other games where we should have picked up more points, like last week against Tottenham.
That is far more unacceptable than this. But even away at Brighton, a club like Liverpool should be able to get a result.”
The international break now gives Slot and Co. time to lick their wounds and go again, with the Premier League title winner well aware that if their fortunes don’t turn around soon, he will be sacrificed.
