Liverpool boss Arne Slot mentioned folks would “make tales” out of the explanations for his aspect’s 3-2 defeat at Fulham however performed down the defensive errors of their first Premier League loss since September.
Three Fulham targets in 14 first-half minutes proved to be a hill too laborious to climb for Slot’s males, who noticed a 26-game unbeaten league run led to west London owing largely to their very own defensive errors.
That they had briefly led at Craven Cottage earlier than errors from Curtis Jones, Andrew Robertson and Virgil van Dijk respectively performed their half in Fulham’s rapid-fire turnaround earlier than the break.
That put Liverpool two targets down for the primary time since their Merseyside derby defeat to Everton in April final yr, and, regardless of Luis Diaz’s good end 18 minutes from the tip, they may not drive an equaliser.
Slot pointed to Liverpool’s defensive consistency – conceding solely 27 targets in 30 video games previous to this defeat – when requested whether or not stress or complacency was affecting his aspect, and denied the outcome and efficiency was any greater than a foul day on the workplace.
“There’s at all times a number of consideration round Liverpool,” he instructed Sky Sports activities. “That does not begin now, that is been there the entire season.
“In fact, folks need to make tales however for me it is all about enjoying Fulham. They seem to be a good workforce, and for those who then make three errors it should be very troublesome to win the sport towards them.
“Generally, we don’t make many of those errors, not to mention three in a single recreation. Right this moment, we additionally had (Ibrahima) Konate dropping the ball too.
“The second half was so significantly better than the primary, however it’s laborious to win a recreation of soccer at this degree for those who concede three targets like this.
“You can really feel that we have been creating a number of possibilities, we have had a number of however sadly we lacked time ultimately to attain the third objective. That has to do with us conceding three targets, as a result of to attain three in an away recreation may be very laborious particularly towards a very good workforce like Fulham.”
Slot goals shot at Man Metropolis: We have labored tougher for this place
Slot in contrast Liverpool to the Man Metropolis aspect who gained 4 consecutive Premier League titles by suggesting his workforce had wanted to work tougher to get into the place they discover themselves in, with an 11-point lead on the prime of the desk with seven video games remaining.
“There is no purpose for us to be complacent,” he mentioned. “We’re not first as a result of we win each recreation by a margin of three or 4 targets.
“I believe everybody that has seen our video games, it takes us a lot effort, a lot laborious work to win video games of soccer, mixed with high quality, in fact.
“However the workforce that gained the league the final 4 seasons [Man City] have been already 3-0 up at half-time nearly each single recreation they performed.
“And that is not the way in which it’s for us. So we’re totally conscious of the truth that we’ve got to compete for seven extra video games.
“We noticed it on Wednesday towards Everton. It was a detailed name. Right this moment was a detailed name. Many occasions we have been on the fitting aspect. Right this moment we have been on the flawed aspect, primarily due to the errors we made.”
‘There’ll at all times be moments when Van Dijk will endure’
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Virgil van Dijk was outwitted by Rodrigo Muniz within the build-up to Fulham’s third
Van Dijk had one other troublesome afternoon at Craven Cottage after struggling towards Beto on Wednesday evening when the Everton ahead got here shut with quite a few possibilities in Everton’s 1-0 defeat at Anfield.
The usually dependable Dutchman was largely culpable for Fulham’s third objective, misjudging a excessive ball and permitting Rodrigo Muniz to have a transparent run on objective earlier than firing dwelling.
“I primarily give credit score to different gamers as effectively,” mentioned Slot when requested about his captain’s type. “Van Dijk just isn’t the primary participant to search out it troublesome to defend towards Beto. And the one which performed right here at the moment, it’s important to give credit score to him additionally.
“I nonetheless see a number of issues that Virgil does rather well, however for those who play 50-60 video games a season, there can be moments, even for him, the place you might have performed higher.”
