Arne Slot has admitted this season is the toughest he has faced throughout his career so far, as he is not “used to losing a lot.”
While managing Feyenoord and Liverpool throughout 2024, Slot lost just once across 51 matches. This season alone, he has lost 11 times, including a run of four successive defeats.
It has led to pressure intensifying on the Dutchman, with the Reds sitting four points outside the Champions League spots with 13 games left in the Premier League season.
The public stance is that his job is not under immediate threat, but Slot has admitted the campaign has been the toughest when asked about the challenging nature of 2025/26.
“Yeah, that’s fair to say [it’s been the toughest], by a mile!” he told reporters ahead of the trip to Sunderland.
“All the other seasons I’ve managed, there were only positives. I don’t think I’ve ever lost two games in a row; it’s an exception this season for me, as it is for the players.
“The players are not used to losing a lot or having a lot of draws, I’m not used to that as well.
“It’s always more of a challenge after you lose a game of football to get them going again, then after a win tell them that we were not as good as they might think they are.”
As for whether he is doing anything differently to cope with the season, Slot insisted that he has not changed and is still holding out hope of doing “something special.”
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, January 31, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot on the bench before the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“You always do something different, because you cannot compare any season with another one,” he explained.
“It’s different, as I said, to lead the team after a loss, or after multiple losses, or after multiple draws, than it is after a win.
“I don’t think anyone in this building would tell you that I completely changed. No, I didn’t, but it is different after a season that we’re having now than all the other seasons I’ve managed, where we always did something special.
“And there’s still a possibility that we can do something special this season as well.”
Arne Slot insists his Liverpool players and the team are improving
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 8, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk (L) pulls the shirt of Manchester City's Erling Haaland during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Slot did seek to find some positives as he commented on how he has noticed an improvement in performances among his squad, though some may dispute the fitness of some of his players.
“This season has been more challenging for me as well, but you also take nice things out of it,” he continued.
“How weird that may sound, because if we are able, I also look at how much improvement we are making.
“The main thing as a manager, you’re always looking for is the results, but it’s also important that players and the team improve, because if that doesn’t happen, we’re having a bigger problem over here.
“But, in my opinion, everyone is now able, except for maybe the players who are injured, to play every three days at an intensity level that is needed at this club, but in the Premier League as well.
“As a result of that, I think our performances are much, much, much, much better than they were at the start of the season.
“And I don’t mean the first six games, maybe, but the period when we started playing a double programme, because in the first six games, we only had once a double programme with Everton, which was a difficult win.
“Since we went into that double programme, we started to drop so many points.”
Since that win over Everton in September, Liverpool have won 13 games, lost 11 and drawn six across all competitions.