The Liverpool head coach has made no secret of where the blame lies for the club's struggles this season
Arne Slot head coach of Liverpool during the press conference on September 29, 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Arne Slot has been quick to protect his Liverpool players in the press(Image: 2025 Liverpool FC)
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There's no question as to where Arne Slot has pointed the finger of blame for Liverpool's struggles this season. The Dutchman has frequently identified himself as the man to take the flak for several of the Reds' losses this year.
His team suffered a 1-0 defeat at Galatasaray on Tuesday night for the second time this season. Mario Lemina netted the only goal of the match just seven minutes into the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at Rams Park.
Tuesday marked the 12th occasion this season that Slot's side have lost a game after conceding first, and the head coach conceded it was his responsibility to improve. He said: "It's a situation we are facing and I'm responsible for it, and we've been facing it for much of the season."
His candid assessment of Liverpool's shortcomings isn't anything new. In fact, the 47-year-old has stepped up to take the brunt of criticism on at least three other occasions this season, all following humbling defeats. Here, we examine what Slot has said when it comes to accepting the blame.
After the loss to Man Utd
Liverpool suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield in the Premier League back in October. Whilst Liverpool were outmatched and outperformed at times on home turf against their fierce rivals, who were then struggling under ex-manager Ruben Amorim, Slot refused to blame his players for the loss, instead telling the fans and media to focus on him.
"What I saw today is the players who were starting were able to create already a quite a lot of chances in the first half and the players I brought in created even more," he said. "But that also has to do with all the effort we put it in the first half. Florian Wirtz came in and was again creating a lot.
"Hugo Ekitike came in and was very close to scoring a goal. Federico Chiesa did really well and Jeremie Frimpong came in and had... he should've had an assist because normally Cody Gakpo scores a ball like that.
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, reacts as he speaks to the media in a post match press conference following the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 First Leg match between Galatasaray SK and Liverpool
Slot shouldered the blame once more after the defeat to Galatasaray(Image: UEFA via Getty Images)
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"So I don't think the focus should be on them, the focus should be on me, on us, the team, whoever you want to focus on, but everyone is giving it all and that's what people expect from us."
After the loss to Nottingham Forest
After Liverpool's shocking 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest in November, Slot once again urged supporters to absolve his players of any responsibility. The Premier League-winning boss insisted that the responsibility lies with him.
"If things go well or things go bad, it's my responsibility," he said. "We weren't able to create enough. I tried to adjust a few things, but it didn't work out. We were unable to score a goal. You never know in this stadium, if you score a goal, then things can work out."
After the loss to Manchester City
The champions slumped to a dismal 3-0 defeat at the Etihad in November. Erling Haaland's header and a deflected Nico Gonzalez strike put City in command by the interval before Jeremy Doku curled in a third in the second half.
Frustration was evident after Virgil van Dijk's goal, which came on the stroke of half-time and would've levelled the game at 1-1, was ruled out. Slot acknowledged his side needed to improve, admitting that he and his staff got it wrong from the start, suggesting that even if the goal had stood, the Reds would have struggled.
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, during the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool
Slot has been under pressure at Liverpool this season(Image: Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
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"Our first focus should be on getting results. The last thing we should focus on is the title race," he said. "That was something we could do last season but also not the previous two seasons. We need to improve and that's obvious.
"This can happen in football. For me it was a wrong decision that this goal was not allowed, but I will not say because of that we lost the game. After 1-1, if City kept on playing like they did then we would have struggled as well.
"But I constantly felt if we could keep it to 1-0 down to half-time we could maybe adjust a few things which was definitely necessary as we were constantly coming up two players short in the middle because Doku and [Nico] O'Reilly gave us a lot of problems."
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