Arne Slot insists it is "almost impossible" to alter his Liverpool blueprint at this stage and remains confident he can extract the finest performances from his underperforming squad once more.
The Reds are enduring their most torrid spell in 72 years following a catastrophic 4-1 Champions League capitulation against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield on Wednesday night. The defeat marked a ninth loss in 12 matches across all competitions, with Liverpool having tumbled into the bottom half of the Premier League table merely six months after cruising to a record-equalling 20th title.
Slot's position as manager is now facing severe examination ahead of what could prove a defining week in his reign, beginning with Sunday afternoon's journey to West Ham United before hosting Sunderland and travelling to Leeds United.
The Dutchman maintains that the relentless fixture list is hampering any thoughts of a wholesale transformation of his misfiring side.
"Is the question should I change dramatically?" Slot responded when questioned about potentially overhauling his starting eleven. "If for example you want another system with five defenders that could be an issue. I don't even have five defenders.
"It suits the players best the system we are playing now, 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."
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot speaks with Liverpool's Italian striker #14 Federico Chiesa from the sidelines during the UEFA Champions League football match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Liverpool FC in Frankfurt, western Germany on October 22, 2025. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Arne Slot, pictured speaking with Federico Chiesa from the sidelines during the Champions League match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Liverpool on October 22, has been asked whether he will shake up his side (Image: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Remarkably, deposed champions Manchester City went through an even worse run this time last year when they won only one of 13 games, only to ultimately finish third and reach the FA Cup final before embarking on another title challenge this term.
And Slot has used that experience of Pep Guardiola's side as proof Liverpool can still salvage their tortuous campaign.
"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 makeup for the results that we have," he said. "I am not sure but Pep 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 can help) 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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The defeat to PSV represented Liverpool's heaviest home loss in European competition and arrived just four days after a humiliating 3-0 Anfield reverse against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. When questioned about whether he had hit rock bottom in his 18-month tenure at Anfield, Slot responded: "I have already thought a few times that we hit the worst point, or the lowest point.
"Because many times I have said - and actually I still feel this about Wednesday as well - that the score does not reflect the way we played. So every time you are thinking we can keep playing the same but hopefully do better because this team should - and can - play better than we do. Make no mistake about that.
"It is not that we perform at the highest standards we can perform at. But you should expect that given the quality we have, that we have reached the lowest point a few times."