Arne Slot admits it is easy to see why Liverpool fans might be losing faith but believes a massive summer will help turn things around at Anfield
Arne Slot speaks after Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa, May 15, 2026
Arne Slot admits it is easy to see why Liverpool fans might be losing confidence in him after a 12th Premier League defeat of the season leaves their Champions League hopes in the balance.
But the head coach believes “a new start” and a successful transfer window this summer will restore faith in his ability to lead the Reds once more.
Liverpool’s 4-2 reverse at Villa Park was their 19th defeat in all competitions this term, excluding their penalty shootout loss to Crystal Palace in August’s Community Shield, and the frustration of many fans is becoming clearer by the week for Slot.
Boos rang out around Anfield briefly at the final whistle of last week’s 1-1 draw with a Chelsea side who arrived on Merseyside having lost six successive games and the defeat at Villa means the champions have been leapfrogged by Unai Emery’s Europa League finalists, leaving the Reds potentially needing a result on the final day at home to Brentford next Sunday to secure a place in the Champions League.
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Slot accepts that supporters’ optimism might be in short supply right now but backed himself and the club to turn things around in pre-season, with the help of a vitally important transfer window.
“I can understand that, at this moment in time, (the fans) don’t have a lot of confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season,” Slot said.
“But I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do. I think we know quite well what to improve.
“One of the things we have to improve is very, very obvious and I would have preferred not to talk about it here but you’re actually almost forcing me to.
“If you miss nine players that can start a game of football and almost all of them are starters for us – or have been for large parts of the season – then if you add that to what you can improve in a window and add that to players that are playing for the second season in the Premier League – and I think we saw that the adaptation for a few of them took some time – that will automatically lead to much more.”
Slot added: “My opinion – and nobody has to agree with me – is that, even today, for large parts of the game we were close to a result but when you are the better team, you need to generate more chances and score them and we cannot concede as many set-pieces as we have conceded this season.
“I don’t think the difference is so big, only doing the right thing in a few situations can have a massive upwards possibility.”
Liverpool’s record of 12 league defeats equals their worst sequence for 11 years.
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