Liverpool manager Arne Slot needs to get his team back to winning ways in the Premier League after suffering painful Champions League and Carabao Cup defeats in successive games
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Updated 20:31, 22 Mar 2025
Arne Slot during the 2025 Carabao Cup final
Arne Slot's Liverpool lost back-to-back games ahead of the international break
(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
Arne Slot will warn his Liverpool players that they will be haunted forever if they fail to bring the Premier League title back to Anfield. The runaway leaders will return from the international break 12 points clear at the top of the table with just nine games left to play.
But the Reds are reeling after losing to underdogs Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final just days after being eliminated from the Champions League on penalties in front of their own fans by Paris Saint-Germain. Slot knows that the cost of failure in the title race from here will be utter torment - but he insists he's a manager who will always regard attack as the best form of defence.
“I know how it works,” said the Dutchman in a new book about the journey that has brought him to Merseyside. “If you don’t pick up trophies as a manager or as a player, it can haunt you for decades.
“There are different ways to be remembered. Look at the Holland team in the 1974 World Cup. Everyone saw that World Cup as the tournament where Holland came out as winners. But they didn’t come home with the cup. It was about their style of play.
“Of course, I want to win as many games as possible - but I also want to stay in the memory of people. That is a trophy in itself, in my opinion.
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“I love it when people describe me as the coach who is always thinking in an attacking style. As long as you keep attacking, you improve the chances that you will come out as a winner.
“Take as many risks with your team as you want because that will bring you more rewards than when you make choices fed by fear. I will lose games in my life in future, for sure - but never will I lose them from having a defensive mindset.”
Liverpool players reacting after their Carabao Cup final defeat
Liverpool suffered a Carabao Cup final defeat just days after their Champions League elimination
Arsenal are the biggest threat to Liverpool’s hopes of winning the title in Slot’s first season at the club since taking over from Jurgen Klopp last summer. And next up for the leaders is a clash with rivals Everton in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on April 2.
Slot led Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title in 2023 after building a team that was deliberately fluid in its movements - and it’s a philosophy that has been adopted by Liverpool. The Dutchman outlines his respect for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola in the book ‘Slotball.’
Liverpool players after their Premier League victory over Southampton
Liverpool beat Southampton in their last league game and remain 12 points clear at the top
Slot said: “I have no fear when I do my team-talks these days. I am fully confident that all my attacking ideas will work out. I have no room for fear or nerves. I make my decisions on the basis of logic and what I see.
“The only time I might feel a bit nervous is if Pep (Guardiola) was in the same room looking over my shoulder! I want my teams to play in such a dynamic way that we are really difficult for our opponents to analyse.”
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