It’s not often we see players openly question mentality straight after a defeat, but Dominik Szoboszlai did exactly that following Liverpool’s heavy loss to Manchester City, and now Arne Slot has responded.
Speaking via Liverpoolfc.com in his post-match press conference, the Dutchman addressed the midfielder’s comments directly and offered his own interpretation of where things went wrong.
Our boss admitted he didn’t fully agree with the Hungarian’s assessment across the entire game, but did acknowledge a key period where standards dropped.
He said: “I should ask him what he means – what he means and what period of time. If he felt that was the whole game, I did not feel this until the moment they scored the 1-0.”
That’s an important distinction, because for large spells of the opening half, we were actually competitive and causing problems, something also reflected in Dominik Szoboszlai’s own post-match interview where he admitted we had chances but failed to take them.
The head coach continued by highlighting how quickly things unravelled once we conceded, particularly in transition moments.
He explained: “But then we had a throw-in, twice we conceded when we had a throw-in. And they go so fast. In those moments you have to defend sharper.”
While Slot didn’t believe the issue lasted the entire match, he did pinpoint a crucial spell where he agreed with the criticism.
The former Feyenoord coach added: “I miss the fighting spirit definitely in the first 10 minutes after half-time… in that 10, 15 minutes of time, I missed fighting spirit but just the willingness to win your duel.”
That period ultimately killed the game, turning a difficult situation into a collapse, and it aligns with what Szoboszlai said when he admitted: “The fighting spirit wasn’t there enough, the mentality wasn’t there enough.”
There’s a clear theme emerging across the squad now, with Virgil van Dijk also admitting responsibility and calling the result a “very difficult” one to take, which suggests the dressing room is aware of the issues.
The key now is how we respond, because with Paris Saint-Germain next, Slot’s message is clear that mentality, duels and intensity have to improve immediately if we’re to keep our season alive.
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One of the goals showed the lack of fight and spirit. Manchester city beak from us attacking there are no players sprinting back to help defending, you can see gravenberch walking back from the halfway line.
There comes a point where the performance levels dip to a standard that’s totally unacceptable for a big football club. This has now gone on for months. Yesterday was nothing new.
The only question left to ask is what kind of owners do we have to just let the season carry on into a complete shambles.
FSG Picked Hughes, who then endorsed slot, who then wated 450 million and FSG keep dithering as we get worse and worse.
Its clueless owners FSG who have caused this mess.
Liverpool football club is totally rudderless without any leadership whatsoever. Since the departure of klopp we sinking into oblivion .
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