'It goes against my beliefs!' - Arne Slot claims he will NOT focus on Liverpool's defence as Reds boss hopes his side score their way out of slump

The Carabao Cup defeat was Liverpool’s sixth defeat in seven matches across all competitions. The last time the Reds suffered five consecutive league defeats was during the 1953/54 season, the year they were relegated from the top flight. Despite making a lightning start to the Premier League, winning their first five games, the Reds now sit seven points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal, and their defensive resilience has simply evaporated into thin air. They haven’t kept a clean sheet in 10 matches and have conceded first in seven straight games. Yet, Slot remains adamant that abandoning his offensive philosophy would be a mistake.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s crucial Premier League clash with Aston Villa, Slot was asked whether adopting a more cautious approach might be the temporary fix his struggling side needs. The Dutchman’s answer was defiant.

"It does go against my beliefs but I have won games in the past, like Man City away, that went against my beliefs but it was necessary to play it like that over there in the second half," he said. "I would be more than open to adapting in certain situations, but I don't think the story is that we conceded chance after chance or that we are too open, every single game, maybe apart from Palace and Brentford, all the other games we deserved much more than we got, and we hardly conceded a chance."

The manager doubled down on his mantra and further insisted that he wouldn’t rip up his attacking blueprint just to grind out results.

"I don't see a reason to change our playing style completely but we need to do better in not conceding goals that for sure," he said. "Even with the team this week which played for the first time together, I think they only conceded three big chances but unfortunately they all went in. But that's because they were big chances, not chances, they were big chances."

However, Slot did acknowledge one glaring weakness in his defensive setup, which is Liverpool’s recurring problems from set-pieces. Reflecting on their recent defeats to Brentford and Manchester United, he admitted his players lacked physicality and concentration at key moments.

"It is never helpful if you end a game of football against Man Utd with conceding a set-piece, and you start another one in the Premier League, and you concede a throw-in after five minutes," he said.

"I'm not 100% if I'm correct, but we had to defend 16 set-pieces [against Brentford], and 15 we defended well, but at this moment, 15 isn't enough because we conceded 16. The first one, someone said to me, no player survives the first contact, and that is also a little bit what makes it difficult if you are five minutes in and 1-0 down. That is never helpful for confidence and for the plan you had, but like I said, if I liked a little part of the game, it was the part after we conceded 1-0 because we were creative, we created our chances, but we couldn't score, and in the last 10 minutes, it became more of their game again. Eventually, the way we conceded the 2-0 - that is something that is far from our standards."

As Liverpool struggle for consistency, Aston Villa have surged back into contention after a dreadful start. Unai Emery’s side, who were winless in their first five games and briefly in the relegation zone, have now recorded four consecutive victories, including an impressive 1-0 triumph over Manchester City last Sunday. While Liverpool’s high-octane attacking style has been thrilling, injury to Alexander Isak and a misfiring Mohamed Salah have not helped their cause. Slot’s philosophy faces a stern test, but without defensive discipline, it risks turning into chaos.