Arne Slot was speaking after his Liverpool side drew 1-1 with Brentford on the final day of the season
Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Brentford at Anfield in Liverpool (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
Arne Slot admits he has made mistakes this season but believes his hand was largely forced due to the injuries that have hampered Liverpool.
The Reds saw a disappointing campaign end with the positive of Champions League qualification sealed by a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
Curtis Jones gave Slot’s side a deserved lead on 58 minutes only for the visitors to equalise six minutes later through Kevin Schade.
The final points tally of 60 is Liverpool’s lowest in the Premier League in 14 years as they finished in fifth place in defence of the title, a whopping 25 points behind new champions Arsenal.
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And when asked if there was anything he’d have done differently this season, Slot said: “There are many things, yes. We and I haven’t been perfect, but I would have answered this question exactly the same in the year we won the league.
“As a manager you can never be perfect, a player can never be perfect. But all the decisions I’ve made this season have been with only one idea, and that’s being very well prepared. I never made a decision where I had no time and just made a decision. I’ve thought about it really well.
“Not every decision can be the right one and it would be stupid for me to sit here and say all the decisions I’ve made are right ones.
“But before I made them, every time it felt they were the right ones to make. But a lot of time I didn’t even have to make decisions or choices because this (Sunday) was maybe the first time this season there were no Academy players on the bench.
“If you asked me for one word to describe this season, I’d describe it with the word ‘injury’.”
The draw meant Brentford joined Chelsea and Newcastle United in missing out on European qualification, with Bournemouth and Sunderland taking the Europa League berths and Brighton the Conference League slot.
And Slot said: “We came here today to get the bare minimum of qualifying for the Champions League. As you see, when you look at the league table, big clubs aren’t able to qualify for the Champions League or Europe.
“Big clubs haven’t been able to qualify for the Champions League in the last few seasons, so we can never take it for granted. But it’s clear and obvious we wanted more.
“I’m really proud of the players with what they’ve done this season as it’s been a very, very, very, very tough season for us with all the things we’ve had to experience, with all the injuries and I can come up with all the things we’ve had to go through.
“But if this in the end is the minimum for us, qualifying for the Champions League, and going out in the FA Cup to the winners after losing at Man City as so many teams do and losing against Paris Saint-Germain for a second season in a row when no team has been able to beat them over two games.
“Not what I would have loved us to achieve before this season started, but taking everything into account that has happened to us this season, I’m today happy that we’ve qualified for the Champions League.”