Arne Slot defended Liverpool's summer spending spree after a 2-1 loss at Brighton on Saturday lunchtime marked the 10th Premier League defeat of the season.
The Reds were beaten at the Amex Stadium by two Danny Welbeck goals either side of Milos Kerkez's equaliser and the defeat could yet prove decisive in the club's pursuit of Champions League qualification.
Liverpool embarked on the biggest summer in their history last year, paying out around £440m and breaking their transfer record twice in process to land £116m Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, who cost a British record £125m from Newcastle United.
To offset such a remarkable outlay, the Reds raised around half of that tally in sales and while Slot can understand why a figure of £450m is used as a criticism for the general performances this term, he has reiterated what he feels is the reality of the situation.
“No, I have complete sympathy with that for all the people who are saying [about our spending] because no one in England is used to the fact that there are also clubs that are selling players," Slot said.
"So usually in England when a club is buying £450 million like we did, that's adding that to the already great team you are having.
“But this club has a different model and no one wants to see that and no one wants to understand this, that I can also understand because fans of other teams and certain pundits don't want to tell you that we sold for £300m.
“Then, the £150m player (Isak) is never available. That's already one thing, and Giovanni Leoni has never been available because of his injury.
"That's already the second thing, and now we're already going underneath what we've sold. Jeremie Frimpong is recently much more available and Giorgi Mamardashvili was one of the signings, the second goalkeeper."
Slot added: “But, yes, it makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £450m that the expectations are high, and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.
"At our club we're also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic, why the season has gone why it is gone.
"But still it's not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with, it's still not good enough for the position you're in right now."
Slot's team return to action on the other side of the international break with an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City.
