Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts during the UEFA Champions League league phase football match between Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 26, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts during the UEFA Champions League league phase football match between Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 26, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool head to West Ham United with Arne Slot’s role as head coach under pressure.
Arne Slot has ruled out changing Liverpool’s formation against West Ham United - as he is short of defenders to do so.
The Reds head to West Ham United on Sunday with the head coach under pressure. A run of nine losses in 12 games in all competitions has left the Premier League champions a total of 11 points behind leaders Arsenal. In their past three matches, Liverpool have conceded 10 goals and scored just once.
The wretched run of results has led to sections of supporters believing that Slot needs to rejig his side in terms of the system or personnel. Some have suggested a wing-back formation could be the answer. But according to Slot, that is not possible. He has a paucity of defenders to face West Ham, with both recognised right-backs Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong injured. Giovanni Leoni will not play against this season after rupturing his ACL while Joe Gomez had a knee injection last week.
What’s been said
“Is the question: ‘Should I change dramatically?’” Slot asked per the Guardian. “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.”
‘We have the quality’
Liverpool’s run of results is not unprecedented for a Premier League champion. Last season, Manchester City’s form jettisoned and they won just once in 13 games. City managed to finish third in the table and have started to bounce back this campaign. Slot reckons that the Reds’ squad has the same quality to turn things around.
“I said already multiple reasons, and I can come up with an extra five or six, for why we are on a run of form like this, but they will never be enough to make up for the results that we have,” added Slot. “I am not sure but Pep [Guardiola] will probably have said the same. For example, we had injuries last season as well. So it is not like this season we have injuries and last season we didn’t so that helped us with a better run of form.”
“But indeed [the example of City 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.”
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