Arne Slot has spoken about Liverpool’s supposedly increasingly strong fitness as being a key factor behind their recent improvements.
Among the myriad of problems Liverpool have encountered this season has been a lack of Premier League-level fitness among some of their new signings, but also members of the squad already at the club.
Slot told media including the Liverpool Echo: “One of the things that hurts you if you are not as fit as we are now is the pressing.
“And if you are more open in pressing – and what I mean by open is not that we conceded 15 counter-attacks, which some pundits try to say, which is not true – but we weren’t as effective in our pressing as we were last season, because we were not ready enough yet and that takes a bit of time.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, February 14, 2026: Liverpool's Curtis Jones during the FA Cup 4th Round match between Liverpool FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“Now we are much more ready. Even against City, you could see that we could play 45 minutes in the second half, even in the first half there were more signs that we were good, but people maybe didn’t really notice.
“That has improved a lot and if that was not on the right level yet, then midfielders and defenders are more exposed because they play through you, they can bring an extra player into the midfield.
“So the better we press in the first line, the less problems we have over there, but you cannot have the most ball possession in the league if everything was s**t throughout the whole season.
“We were at a good level, we’ve been very unlucky which I’ve said 120 times, but we are better now.”
Why has Alexis Mac Allister improved in recent weeks?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, February 14, 2026: Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister during the FA Cup 4th Round match between Liverpool FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Slot thinks that fitness hasn’t just been an issue among those arriving at the club, though, and has argued that Alexis Mac Allister‘s recent improvement in form is down to him finally getting up to speed.
Asked why the Argentine has been better in recent weeks, Slot explained: “I think it’s always a combination of factors, but fitness is a very important one. I think the moment a player starts to play more and more games, he gets fitter and fitter.
“He’s not the only example of that, Dominik Szoboszlai is an example of that. After two-and-a-half years, you cannot compare him anymore with the player of two-and-a-half years ago. Mainly the focus is on Hugo (Ekitike) and Florian (Wirtz) and the new ones, but Dom had the same trajectory.
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“The second thing is if you bring in a few new players and a few leave, then you need new connections in the team so that takes a bit of time before everyone is ready, especially if you cannot constantly play with the same team for the reasons I’ve explained many times.
“They were not fit enough to play every single time, every three days. So that takes then a little bit of time, and if you score a set-piece against Sunderland, then the last half-hour feels nicer than if you concede against Nottingham Forest after half an hour.”