Slot under pressure, likely to risk everything in the next 10 days

Liverpool strolled to the English Premier League title last season, and that result seemed to mask an early elimination from the Champions League (in the round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain, who won the title late), a debacle against lower-league Plymouth in the FA Cup, and a defeat in the League Cup final against Newcastle...

This summer, the giant from the city of Bitsa spent almost half a billion euros on reinforcements, with Florijan Virc, Aleksander Isak, Miloš Kerkez, Ugo Ekitike arriving...

Rightly so, ambitions became much higher, but after a very good start to the season and seven consecutive victories, a nightmarish part of September and the entire month of October followed.

Liverpool have won just once in seven games (six losses), so manager Arne Slott is under pressure for the first time since arriving at Anfield - it shows in every statement he makes, every gesture he makes during the game, whether towards the referees, his players or the opponent....

Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup on Tuesday, eliminated by the "black beast" Crystal Palace (0:3 at Anfield) and that elimination in itself shouldn't be traumatic because Slott sent a B or C team onto the field.

He rested Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Soboslai, Kodi Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah and Ugo Ekitike, so the defeat against a serious team led by Oliver Glazner was probably logical.

However, the moment is not good, such a convincing defeat cannot in any way have a positive impact on the team and the club, and even the English public is not sure that Slot did the right thing by sacrificing a competition.

The Dutchman seems to have felt that his next games are much more important - the first is on Saturday against Aston Villa in the Premier League.

"That match is of great importance to all of us at the club," said Slot.

And after the "Lions" and Unai Emery's, two derbies follow - a clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League and then with Manchester City in the championship.

It seems that Slot himself has realized that if Liverpool does not make a turnaround in the game and results in the next 270 minutes of football that await them, he could be dismissed.

"I looked at the Manchester City squad against Wigan in the League Cup and I'm not sure they had a single player who was in the starting line-up at the weekend. And yet, as you read those names, it seems like City have a lot of players who are in the starting 11," Slott pointed out.

The point of the story is...

"We spent a lot of money on signings this summer, but we still don't have the "breadth" in the team. I don't think people realize that, because they only know that we brought in big names," Slot added.

He reflected on the defeat against Palace.

"Even when we are complete, we have a hard time playing against Palace. It's not just us. The League Cup is a competition where Liverpool have always given space to academy players. I think that's the right way to go and I won't change my stance just because we lost."

Slot launched three teenagers into the first team (Trey Nyoni, Kieran Morrison and Rio Engumohu), five more were on the bench and some came on later, and compared to the duel with Brentford on Saturday in the Premier League, he made as many as 10 changes...

"There is a group of players who have been struggling since the preparations, some needed a break now, and I decided to rest some so as not to take any risks for what is to come," Slot concluded.

Liverpool are on a four-game losing streak in the Premier League, while next-door rivals Aston Villa are on a four-game winning streak - one streak that will be snapped in the Anfield dugout on Saturday (21pm).