Liverpool manager Arne Slot ‘completely happy’ with squad

Liverpool won the first seven matches of the season in all competitions and lost six of the last seven matches.

They have fallen to seventh in the Premier League standings, seven points behind leaders Arsenal, leading some fans to question whether Slot is the right man to take Liverpool forward.

This all follows a record-breaking summer investment at Anfield, which saw the club embark on the biggest summer spending spree in the history of European football, forking out £415 million to recruit a spectacular collection of talent.

The previous record was held by Chelsea, who spent £400 million in the summer of 2023, and Liverpool were prepared to shell out a further £35 million to sign Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi until the deal collapsed as the transfer window closed.

Striker Alexander Isak was the last player through the door on September 1 for a British record fee of £125 million.

Isak, 26, dropped down at Newcastle and trained alone to make the move to Merseyside, meaning he missed an entire pre-season.

Liverpool were also without a number of key players due to injuries in the early months of the season, including Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong and Ryan Gravenberch.

“I’m completely convinced of the strategy and policy we have, but the problem, if you call it a problem, is not that they haven’t all had a proper pre-season or that they’ve all been injured,” Slot added.

“When three or four players are injured you go back to 16 players. I believe 20 or 21 players are enough but you have to keep them fit like we did last season.

“Alex [Isak] is a great example of this. Some also missed pre-season training or suffered pre-season injuries.

“It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and if a few are not available it often falls on the same players. Maybe we were luckier last season and we are unluckier now.”