Arne Slot Admits Liverpool Still A Work In Progress After Chelsea Defeat

‎Arne Slot conceded that Liverpool remains a work in progress after their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, marking a third straight loss for the defending Premier League champions.

‎For the second time in a week, Liverpool’s hopes of defending their title were jolted by a heart‑stopping late setback.

‎After suffering a last-minute defeat at Crystal Palace the previous weekend, Arne Slot’s side endured more heartbreak as Estêvão Willian struck a dramatic stoppage-time winner at Stamford Bridge.

‎Chelsea had taken an early lead through a stunning long-range effort from Moisés Caicedo. Cody Gakpo pulled Liverpool level after the break, but their late collapse sealed another painful loss.

‎Liverpool highs and lows this season

‎After starting the season with seven successive wins in all competitions, the Reds lost to Palace, then Galatasaray in the Champions League in midweek, before their latest flop in West London.

‎This marks the first time Liverpool have lost three consecutive matches since 2023, during Jürgen Klopp’s tenure, when they fell to Bournemouth, Real Madrid, and Manchester City.

‎The current slump highlights the growing pressure on new manager Arne Slot. For the Dutchman, it is the first time in his managerial career that he has endured three straight defeats.

‎Even when Liverpool were winning at the start of the season, they needed several late goals to paper over the cracks in some creaky performances.

‎And Slot believes his team is not yet functioning at full power because of their summer spending spree and the tragic death of Portugal forward Diogo Jota in a car crash in Spain.

‎Liverpool splashed out over £400 million on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and a host of other players, but their two marquee signings have yet to shine.

‎”You are never close to your ideal. You have to work very hard to reach a certain level, and then it’s hard to maintain that level because you play against other quality teams,” Slot said.

‎”We had our changes in the summer. Players came in at different moments. In the last weeks, there has hardly been any training time. We need to bring these players into our style.

‎”If we had a draw today, we would have had a great start to the season if you take into account everything that happened in the summer with Liverpool.”

‎’It wasn’t about a disconnection’

‎Liverpool took 51 minutes to muster a shot on target against a Chelsea side missing out on a host of injured and suspended defenders.

‎The Blues, beaten in their previous two league games, have also been struggling to find their form, but Liverpool were unable to take advantage.

‎”Another disappointing loss, that is clear. We created three big chances in the first half, they only had one and they scored it,” said Slot, whose team hosts Manchester United in their next match after the international break.

‎”The second half performance I liked. We created more than enough to score more than one goal. There were periods where I thought we were going to win it.

‎”We didn’t play the last pass well enough in those chances. It was end-to-end in the last few minutes. Either team could have won it, and Chelsea did.”

‎Sweden striker Isak and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah once again failed to find a positive connection, but Slot is confident they will hit it off eventually.

‎”The more they play together, the more they will connect. I had to take (Ibrahima) Konate off because he felt his quad.

‎”When Ryan (Gravenberch) started to play in that position, we started to get our attacking players in much better positions,” he said.

‎”It wasn’t about a disconnection between players. We had to do much better with our build-up, and that’s what we did in the second half.”

‎Reasons for Maresca’s Second Yellow 

‎Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca did not attend the post-match press conference after being sent off for his exuberant sprint along the touchline to celebrate Estevao’s winner.

‎”He is ok. Unfortunately, he can’t be here because of the red card, but he was so happy after the game,” Maresca’s assistant Willy Caballero said.

‎”We have been holding our emotions for the last couple of weeks because we have been playing well and not winning. Today was really important.”