Arne Slot has ruled out making dramatic changes to his system and lineup due to Liverpool’s injury list and lack of training time between matches.
Slot has been tasked with answering pointed questions about his side’s form and what he can do to arrest the run of defeats, a significant change in narrative from this time last year.
There have been calls from supporters and across the media for the Dutchman to change personnel or his system to assist with the turnaround, but Slot has ruled that out.
Why Slot has ruled out a tactical shift
When asked whether he needed to shake up his starting XI by the press, including the Guardian, Slot rebuffed the idea.
“Is the question: ‘Should I change dramatically?’” Slot replied. “I don’t know what is in your head but if, for example, you want another system with five defenders that could be an issue.
“I don’t even have five defenders.
“The system we are playing now suits the players best. They have played this system probably throughout their whole career, and there is hardly any training time for us.
“So it is almost impossible to change our complete idea about football if we play every two days.
“I think we have played a lot of different lineups for reasons I prefer not to do because everyone was not available. We have used our whole squad constantly.”
Liverpool currently play a game every three days and thus typically only train properly for one day before a match, as is the case with the trip to West Ham after players were given a day off.
So far this season, only 11 players have started 10 or more games across all competitions, with Slot continuing to favour a select group of players in his lineup.
Comparison with Man City’s 2024 struggles
With no tactical shift imminent, Slot retains the belief that Liverpool’s quality will come to the fore and they will turn their form around.
After Man City‘s struggles last season, which saw them lose nine from a run of 12 before turning it around, Slot said: “Indeed [the example of City’s struggles last season is valid] because they have quality and we have quality.
“The best chance to come out of a situation like this is that we as a team and me as a manager bring the best out of these players again to bring us back to winning ways.
“If we didn’t have the quality we would have had a big problem. I think we have the quality and we have to bring the best out of them again.”