Arne Slot isn't helping himself with crazy claims - Liverpool boss' quotes are as concerning as the Reds' performances

The Champions League has been Slot's saving grace this season, with his side proving far more suited to the "proper football" (credit: Anthony Gordon) we see in continental competition than the brutal physicality and relentless intensity of the set-piece obsessed Premier League.

As a result, a team floundering in England has flourished in Europe, beating the likes of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Inter before sealing a fourth-placed finish in the league phase by beating Qarabag.

Slot, then, had every reason to be feeling both happy and revealed that his team had not only performed well on the night, but also avoided the play-offs.

"It's what you want if you start the Champions League season – you want to finish top eight,” he admitted. "It helps because you skip a round and sometimes you can have a really hard team to play against in a round like that.

"So, we are happy that we are going straight away to the last 16..." And Slot really should have left it there. But he had a point to make. 

"It's only two years ago that we were playing Europa League and we went out in the quarter-finals against Atalanta," Slot said in his post-match press conference. 

"So, two seasons in a row now being in the last 16, and last season we were very hungry for more and we will definitely be hungry for more this season as well."

It was a staggering statement from Slot. Not in an way incorrect, of course, yet wholly unnecessary and very unbecoming. Liverpool had indeed been knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta two years ago but why had Slot brought it up? 

At best, it was an ill-advised attempt to contextualise the result, to big up his achievements since taking over. Whatever his intention, though, Slot's reference to one of the more disappointing defeats of Jurgen Klopp's tenure sounded like the kind of disrespectful comment the Dutchman has been subjected to himself of late, an undignified dig at his predecessor, the Kop icon that led Liverpool to three Champions League finals in five seasons, and lifted the trophy in 2019 after giving Anfield the most memorable night in its history along the way. You know, the same Jurgen Klopp responsible for getting the fans singing Slot's name before he'd even arrived at Anfield?!

So, while Slot may have been trying to put things in perspective, he ended up evoking memories of Jose Mourinho infamously attempting to blame his poor results as Manchester United manager to the club's "football heritage".

The crazy thing is, though, that Slot's shot at Klopp didn't actually come as that much of a surprise - because his recent press conferences have been littered with nonsensical comments and claims.

Slot has repeatedly brought up 'low blocks' to explain Liverpool's struggles in the Premier League, with the argument being that his players have enormous difficulty dealing with opponents that sit deep and get around the Reds' press by constantly knocking the ball long.

However, as former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard pointed out, it's not as if this is anything new. "He needs to stop mentioning low blocks," the ex-England international told TNT Sports. "Low blocks have been happening against Liverpool since I was playing. That's just the way it is."

To his credit, Slot agreed with Gerrard, in that he was constantly talking about low blocks, and quipped that it was "because we face a lot of low blocks!"

He also quite understandably pointed out that given the amount of questions he was being asked about Liverpool's struggles, it was inevitable that he'd have to continually discuss the reasons for them.

"Maybe I should try to find other words," he said, "or just simply not talk about it anymore."

One cannot help feel some sympathy for Slot, for having to say the same thing over and over again. But, at the end of the day, whose fault is that? Slot and his coaching staff have long since identified Liverpool's primary problem, so why haven't they been able to solve it at this stage?

Slot is well within his rights to feel that he deserves more time to turn things around. After all, he won the title in his first season in England, making the seemingly impossible task of succeeding Klopp look easy.

However, his response to the boos that followed the full-time whistle in the 1-1 draw with Burnley on January 17 was baffling. First, he said, "In my head, it wasn't booing." Then, ahead of the subsequent trip to France to take on Marseille, he claimed ignorance of the fact that a significant number of supporters were losing faith in him.

"That's news to me," the Dutchman said. "If you're one-and-a-half years in the job and have already won the Premier League, when the club has won it twice in 30 years, I'm surprised to hear that."

What did Slot really expect, though? Liverpool's title defence has been an embarrassment, with the reigning champions 14 points behind a solid but unspectacular Arsenal side, having won only five of their past 18 matches and failed to beat a single promoted side at home.

Those are the kind of unwanted records that result in managers being sacked - regardless of what's gone before. Last season's title triumph is not a reason to disregard this season's dreadful defence.

Furthermore, Liverpool's fans - of all fans - have never needed history lessons. They're painfully aware of how much they've toiled to win titles over the past 36 years. Even during the toughest of times, though, Liverpool managed to win trophies and the Reds always remained one of the biggest and wealthiest clubs in England.

So, while the fans are not entitled to expect Liverpool to win the toughest league in world football every year, they are entitled to expect Liverpool to at least challenge every year - and particularly after nearly £450 million has been spent on a title-winning team.

Slot has pointed out that the Reds recouped a lot of that cash through sales, and there's a very valid argument to be made that the manager has been left with a shallow pool of players because of the failings of those above him - but it's not as if Michael Edwards, Richard Hughes and the rest of the recruitment team are not also coming under intense scrutiny right now.

The fact remains, though, that Liverpool have performed well below expectations this season and that's on the manager, who is not getting anywhere near enough out of the players he still has at his disposal, and, to make matters much worse, Slot is not doing himself any favours with his increasingly bizarre explanations for his side's shortcomings this season.

Clearly, Slot's squad is ill-equipped to fight on four fronts - that much has already been proven. But it's hard to know what was going through his mind when he shared what he knew was "not going to be a popular opinion" earlier this week.

"Maybe," Slot mused, "the reason we won the league last season is that we had to play [Paris Saint-Germain] in the last 16. They beat us and we had every time a [full] week to prepare for our next game. Maybe that helped us."

It was an utterly ludicrous suggestion and, unlike a lot of his other claims, devoid of any foundation. Liverpool were 15 points clear of Arsenal when they were knocked out of the Champions League. 

As Gerrard told TNT Sports, "they had the league wrapped up by that point. So, to say that helped them is a body blow for the fans really, because the fans have been on the journey. They've paid good money to follow the team in the Champions League games. The frustration when you go out of the Champions League as a player or a fan, that hurts... so, to say that helped you when you were already 15 points clear, you can understand the supporters' frustration."

Especially as it now feels as if Slot is no longer trying to put Liverpool's present problems in perspective, but prepare the fans for future failure. Unfortunately for the under-fire manager, all he's done is increase the noise levels around Anfield.