Arne Slot must take accountability to get Liverpool out of a rut - his Man Utd barbs have only intensified scrutiny around wretched Reds

Slot has maintained his cool, calm demeanour throughout his Liverpool tenure, but Sunday's damaging defeat to their fierce rivals from Manchester was clearly the biggest test of his patience so far. When he emerged for his post-match media duties the relaxed facade remained, but his carefully-chosen words belied his composure.

In the brief time between Harry Maguire's 84th-minute winner and the end of his team talk in the belly of the Reds' famed home ground, Slot had seemingly established a line of defence and gone over it in his head so that he had it down to a tee in time to face the cameras after a fourth defeat in a row.

Rather than take accountability himself or point the finger at his players in any serious way, the Dutchman instead decided to lace his analysis with barbs aimed at United and the tactics deployed by his counterpart Amorim - repeating the same line about 'long balls' and a 'low block' almost verbatim to Sky Sports, the BBC and in his post-match press conference. It's a veiled criticism he levelled at Amorim's side after a 2-2 draw in January, too.

Slott said on BBC's Match of the Day:

"It's always difficult playing against a team that plays a low block and long balls. It's even more difficult when you concede a goal in the opening minutes with a man lying on the ground. If you'd told me before the game that we were going to create that many chances against a team that plays a low block and long balls, you wouldn't think we'd lose. But that's what happened."

He repeated this assertion in his press conference:

"When you play United, with all their talented players, and they're playing a low block at our home and playing long balls, the last thing you want is to go behind because it gives them even more confidence. If you'd told me that United were playing that style and we were going to go behind after creating eight or 10 chances, I would have said 'no way,' but that's what happened."

Ironically, the actual stats don't reflect his words. Liverpool recorded 27 long balls, while United recorded 18. Although the length of time the two teams had the ball was significantly different, Liverpool used more long balls numerically. United simply used them more efficiently, putting the home team under pressure.

At a time when Liverpool need to be looking inwardly to work out exactly what is going wrong and how they can haul themselves out of this rut, Slot's comments have only served to increase the outside noise and media scrutiny, with many rival fans and pundits alike labelling their head coach 'bitter' and a 'sore loser'.

He had provoked ridicule even before kick-off on Sunday with a complaint that was perhaps a reflection that the pressure of Liverpool's blip is starting to get to him, as he bizarrely pointed out that Amorim had decided to change his tactics and bench Benjamin Sesko despite his recent goal-scoring form.

"We've seen Sesko play the last three, four, five or six times, but they go to Liverpool they change the line-up," he said. "That's not the first where we've faced a team and they've done that."

That drew a brutal response from rival supporters, who branded Slot "f*cking pathetic" for seemingly being irked that United didn't set up in the way that he had anticipated, creating an excuse before the game had even begun.

To his credit, Slot did attribute a slither of blame for the defeat to his players and, by proxy, himself - albeit he wasn't exactly scathing. Questioning the referee's failure to stop play in the build-up to United's early opener, with Alexis Mac Allister suffering a head injury (caused by Virgil van Dijk) mere seconds before Bryan Mbeumo found the back of the net, also smacked of desperation.

"The second thing that went wrong is that from all the chances we got, we only scored one goal," he said. "It's almost impossible to win a big game of football with a negative set-piece balance. We conceded another one and that led to us losing the game.

"I think the main thing we should do now, I should do now, is not complain, blame or do these kind of things. We could have done much better after Macca (Mac Allister) was on the floor, we should have done better. But the healthcare of a player is something that is important and if a player needs to have four stitches, you would hope that everybody understands that he needs immediate treatment. But it didn't happen.

"But, again, we could have done better, so that's not the reason why we lost this game today - the reason is because we missed far too many chances to win a game of football."

Slot isn't necessarily wrong about those missed opportunities, but after a fourth defeat in a row for Liverpool - the first time they been on such a losing streak in over a decade - the Dutchman surely needs to delve deeper into their problems and begin to shoulder some of the blame for these issues himself.

Contrastingly, Klopp was always willing to take responsibility during downturns in form across his glittering tenure, including in his final season, saying after the Merseyside derby defeat to Everton in April 2024 as Liverpool's title challenge crumbled: "You saw the game. It wasn’t the first [poor] one but it was the worst one. I see two teams [Arsenal and Manchester City] who play really positive football and go for it. We can do that but we don't in this moment. Who can I make responsible for that? It's my job until the last day to make sure the boys feel that."

There is certainly some more self-reflection to be done for Slot.

Taking that accountability will probably come in the form of some very difficult selection decisions, as Liverpool face crises of form and confidence across the pitch. Against United, Slot stood staunchly by a clutch of out-of-sorts players from back to front, most notably summer signing Milos Kerkez, talisman Mohamed Salah and £125 million ($169m) new striker Alexander Isak.

That came at the expense of the likes of Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Andrew Robertson, Federico Chiesa, Joe Gomez and Rio Ngumoha, who were all on the bench. Now, the time has surely come for at least some of the previously-guaranteed starters to be rotated out of the team and, in turn, be taken out of the firing line.

These are selection calls that will require bravery from the head coach, but, in the long run, they could prove to be hugely beneficial. Ekitike has arguably been Liverpool's best player this season; Chiesa has shown in his scant minutes on the pitch that he can be a difference-maker (three goal involvements in 81 Premier League minutes); Wirtz has to be utilised if he's the future of the club and has created more chances per 90 than anyone else in the league who's played more than 200 minutes; Ngumoha's youthful exuberance could breath fresh life into an attack that has stagnated; Gomez has been a reliable servant and Ibrahima Konate needs a break.

One of the most pertinent questions, and a call that will require the most courage, is Salah's continued involvement as he desperately searches for form. After firing Liverpool to the league title last season, he hasn't scored from open play since the opening day of this term - the first time he has gone seven consecutive Premier League games without scoring a non-penalty goal since joining the Reds back in 2017.

The 33-year-old's last strike came from the spot against Burnley on September 14, and his crisis of confidence was evident as he slashed a glaring chance wide against United at Anfield on Sunday, with Slot tellingly hauling the winger off two minutes after his side had fallen behind for a second time late in the game, rather than backing him to find the equaliser.

Indeed, club legend Jamie Carragher has called for Salah in particular to be dropped. He told The Gary Neville Podcast: “I think we're at that stage now where Mo Salah shouldn't be a guaranteed starter every week. I don't think Salah should be like a Virgil van Dijk where it's like 'first name on the team sheet'. Liverpool have got two away games - in the Champions League at Frankfurt and then they go to Brentford. I don't think Salah should start both of those games.

"He should always start at Anfield because Liverpool will be on top. But I do think in the away games and helping your full-back, I don't think Salah should be starting every game right now, with the form he's in. Would he be OK with that? Probably not. But when you get to a certain age you have to understand that, especially when you're not playing well, where's your argument?"

However, Slot suggested in his press conference that he isn't ready to take a hard-line stance with the talismanic forward. "I think it's quite normal. In the first five or six games, every question I got was about the new players. Now you ask me about another individual, [but] I don't think it is the time to talk about individual performances." 

"As a team, we expect more than where we are at the moment - and as a team, I don't think we are used to a Liverpool team, certainly as long as I'm here and I don't think it was any different when Jurgen (Klopp) was here, missing so many chances. Like I said, Mo had a good chance today. We just talked about Cody [Gakpo], who had four or five maybe. Hugo Ekitike was a few times really close. Alexander Isak went one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the first half."

While his bitterness and sore-loser barbs will help no-one, acceptance is the first step to a resolution, and Slot has at least accepted that the club faces a significant test to get back on track after being derailed by this downturn in recent weeks.

"As a manager you constantly face challenges," the Dutchman said. "When you start and you need to win games, when you go to a bigger club, when you are the successor of Jurgen Klopp and people are saying: ‘This is the biggest challenge you have ever faced.’ Now we have lost four times in a row and that is also a challenge. The life of a football manager is also an ongoing challenge.

“But do we lose confidence? I cannot see that yet because every game we’ve lost we were able to create in the second half an unbelievable amount of chances. If we can keep producing what we are doing and maybe do a few things a little bit better, then there is every reason to expect that we will win football games again."

If he is to successfully overcome these challenges, Slot must ditch the post-match outbursts, take accountability and start looking at what he and his players are doing wrong. Liverpool's season is certainly salvageable, but he faces the biggest test of his career to get them out of this rut.