Arne Slot lifts lid on fresh talks as Liverpool boss '100% convinced' about mistake

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But Arne Slot is adamant appearances have been deceptive for Liverpool this season.Dismal defeat at Manchester City a fortnight ago sent the champions tumbling to eighth place and a whopping eight points behind Arsenal, giving Slot much to ponder over the recent international break.It represents Liverpool's lowest league position since April 2023 on the back of a run of five losses in six Premier League games, as many as they had lost in the previous 49 such matches.READ MORE: Arne Slot admits Alexander Isak selection risk as his Liverpool 'problem' laid bareREAD MORE: Arne Slot makes Diogo Jota admission after emotional Andy Robertson interview - 'I simply don’t know'The Reds resume at home to Nottingham Forest this afternoon with Slot facing a number of selection headaches with Conor Bradley and Florian Wirtz the latest to be sidelined by injury.But after a £450million summer rebuild, Slot is convinced Liverpool are in a misleading position and believes they can still salvage an underwhelming campaign."We can improve as a team and we will improve definitely as individuals because players will be adapted to the league much better," said the Reds boss."We have to make sure we are still challenging for the things we want to challenge for. We therefore need wins but I am 100% convinced that where we are now is not as bad people say."Because we made so many changes in the summer, the team performance and individual performance has a lot of room for improvement.

If that happens and we are going to do some basic things a little bit better than we are doing now, then there is a lot to expect for us in the upcoming months."Slot added: "The last international break I looked at it in a little bit more detail and came to certain conclusions about playing styles we face or things we have to improve."We have lost six out of 15 (this season) and sometimes it feels like we lost 15 out of 15. I exclude the Crystal Palace home game in the League Cup (when Slot picked an effective reserve team)."Now I have emphasised more about the last six games - excluding Palace in the League Cup - we won three and lost three, and the three we lost we had a negative set-piece balance.

That's one thing."The second thing is I think this team can and will play much better if you give them a little bit more time."The City game in particular, yes we lost it, yes in the first half they were better than us, but in the second half we had a decent performance and their goals were not the biggest chances we gave away."Much was made during the defeat against City of Mohamed Salah's defensive contribution, having previously been targeted by a number of opposing teams as a potential weak point.But Slot has instead focused on wanting more form Salah - who could make his 300th Premier League appearance for Liverpool today - at the other end of the pitch, having contributed only five goals and three assists in 16 games so far this season compared to 10 of each at this stage of the previous campaign."I know my conversation with him and how they have been throughout one-and-a-half years working together," said Slot. We struggled but not only in that position, we struggled in more positions in the first half, which didn't lead to big chances but they were the better team."In the second half we adjusted a little bit and I think nobody noticed it but in the second half we were the better team on the pitch."