Arne Slot has described Liverpool’s first half of the season as a “constant battle” and admitted the title race appeared to be a straight fight between Arsenal and Manchester City.
The Premier League champions are 12 points adrift of Mikel Arteta’s leaders after a goalless draw with Leeds on New Year’s Day. Liverpool are unbeaten in eight matches and back in the Champions League places after recovering from the club’s worst run in 71 years, yet remain unconvincing. Slot conceded his team are not “flying” or in contention to retain their title at present.
“Realistically I think there are two teams,” said the Liverpool head coach of Arsenal and City when asked to assess the title race and his team’s prospects for the second half of the campaign. “[Aston] Villa are really close but Arsenal created a bit of a gap by beating Villa and those two teams are quite far away from us and we should not look at those two at this moment in time.
“We have had our struggles throughout. We started really well in terms of results, games were really close, then we had a phase of the season where games were still really close but we were constantly unlucky. Now we have been eight games unbeaten but if you say this you feel like: ‘They are flying through the league.’ But that is not what we are doing. Every single game we play it’s hard work. We are mainly the team that is probably better but not enough.
“Hopefully we can find a moment where we can fly through the season, but for the first 19 games it has been a constant battle, close to each other, sometimes a bit lucky, sometimes a bit unlucky.”
The Leeds game was Liverpool’s first goalless draw in 84 matches under Slot. The Dutchman said his team have improved defensively during their unbeaten run – which started when he dropped Mohamed Salah at West Ham – but have not got the balance right in the final third.
“It is clear and obvious that we hardly concede chances any more. But for me it is also clear and obvious that we find it quite hard to generate enough chances for all the ball possession we have and that is not new for us this season,” Slot said. “The players keep trying, they bring the ball towards the wingers, they make inside runs, they play and move, they do all the things, but sometimes you need a kind of magic to unlock a game or a set piece and if that then happens then all of a sudden everything looks much nicer. But that is not our season until now.”
Slot, who could have Joe Gomez back from injury for Sunday’s visit to Fulham, said Liverpool’s former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs deserved another opportunity at the highest level after he left the club this week.
“First of all I want to thank him for the one and a half years we worked together because he’s been a big part of us winning the league last year and he’s been a big help to me,” Slot said. “He will definitely find a new challenge because he’s done a good job for us, he’s a very good human being and a very promising, good English coach and deserves to get multiple chances again.”
