Arne Slot changes assessment of his Liverpool squad after bizarre depth complaint despite £450m summer spend as dire form continues

After winning seven games in a row across all competitions, the Reds have now lost six out of their last seven outings, including four league defeats in a row. A 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt is Liverpool's sole victory in that dire run of form. And things don't get much easier for Slot and Liverpool, who take on Aston Villa on Saturday night. 

The defending champions then welcome Real Madrid in the Champions League next week, with a Trent Alexander-Arnold reunion on the cards. The Reds travel to rivals Manchester City in their final game before the November international break as Liverpool look to rescue their sub-par season. A four-game losing run in the Premier League means Slot's side are now seven points behind leaders Arsenal and sit behind rivals Manchester United after the opening nine games.

After heavily rotating his squad during the Carabao Cup clash loss to Palace in midweek, the Dutch coach had claimed that he was forced to use youngsters to keep his first-choice senior players free from injury as he told Sky Sports: "Everybody can have [their] opinion about it but with the squad we have - maybe 15, 16 first-team players available - this is the choice I've made. It's not of Liverpool's standards to lose five out of six, or six out of seven. Last time we played Southampton here in the League Cup, Giovanni Leoni got injured, and we don't have such a big squad as people might tell, because there was so much focus on the amount of money we spent [in the summer]. 

"People all of a sudden think we have 25 players available, but we mainly have 20 players then we have four injuries. I only have one right full-back, Conor Bradley, as an example, and every time I had to play him twice in three days or three times in seven days [last season], it led to him... that I had to take him off with a hamstring injury or something else. Are you willing to take that risk with such a big week coming up? Last time I played a player that wasn't fully prepared - we thought he was prepared but it was the first time - Alexander Isak, he got injured."

However, in his latest statement, Slot mentioned: "We miss nothing. I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have."

Despite the horrible run of form, it is unlikely that the Reds would part ways with their head coach as their hierarchy have "full trust" in Slot and they believe that he will turn things around quickly, according to Fabrizio Romano. BBC Sport’s chief football writer Phil McNulty has also claimed that there is "no chance" that Slot would lose his job at Anfield any time soon.

Slot has also opened up on the sack talks as he claimed that he is not worried about getting sacked and that he feels supported at the Merseyside club. "[I feel supported] not only in this period but also when things go well," he said. "I'm a firm believer all the squads I had were 20-21 players that can play because if you have too many it's already a struggle to make a squad. But then you have to keep them fit."

The Reds will next face Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday night.