Arne Slot admits Liverpool backroom fear has come true in honest reflection on season
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Arne Slot admits he wasn't expecting Liverpool to experience a transitional season as Premier League championsArne Slot admits he wasn't expecting Liverpool to experience a transitional season - but accepts the level of summer turnover meant it was always a possibility at Anfield.And the Reds boss, whose Premier League champions are left fighting it out to be part of next season's Champions League having fallen 19 points behind leaders Arsenal, says the table is a fair reflection of where his team are at currently.Liverpool spent around £440m in the summer window, breaking their transfer record twice to first land Florian Wirtz for £116m in June before striking a British-record deal for Alexander Isak, who signed from Newcastle United for £125m on September 1.At that time, Slot's men were top of the table, having won their first three games, with many tipping the champions to dominate for the campaign ahead, but nine defeats since have left them outside the top five places heading into the weekend.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageSlot says he didn't anticipate this season to transform into one where expectations needed to be lowered but believes the turnover in playing staff, where eight were signed and 10 left, means it was always possible to experience difficulties."It was something we were aware of, in the back of our mind that that could happen with signing so many new players, but not something we or I was expecting," the Dutchman said when asked about it now being considered a season of transition inside the club itself."You always know if you let go of so many players and you bring in so many new players, it could mean transition is needed, but the expectations were not that we were having a season as we are having now."But for all the reasons that I don't want to bring up every single time we are here - it has become a season like that.
And partly for a few percentage, that's also because we've made so many changes."But again, when we made them, we know in the back of our mind: ‘Okay, it could happen, but we didn't expect it'."Slot, whose sixth-place side hosts relegation-threatened Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon, added: "I think the league table has always given a fair reflection of what we've done."That was the situation last season. So it would not be fair to tell you now that the league table doesn't give a fair reflection of how we've been performing."I do feel if only a few things would have been a bit more normal then we would have had many more points but it's not realistic for the way we've played this season to say that we would have been able to compete with Arsenal.
They've been much better than us."I heard for example one of the things, but I can come up again with these 10 things, but if the games would have ended after 90 minutes we would have been second at the moment."It's part of football but it tells you that I'm 100% sure, usually I say 99.9% sure, but 100% sure this will never happen in the season again, in the upcoming five or 10 years for Liverpool, that we're conceding so many goals after 90 minutes."Liverpool FC Bringback collectionThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn moreLiverpool FC and adidas have unveiled a retro Bringback collection inspired by the club's 1995/96 away kit.