Liverpool boss Arne Slot stated folks would “make tales” out of the explanations for his facet’s 3-2 defeat at Fulham however performed down the defensive errors of their first Premier League loss since September.
Three Fulham objectives 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 resulted in west London owing largely to their very own defensive errors.
They’d 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 objectives 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 top, they may not pressure an equaliser.
Slot pointed to Liverpool’s defensive consistency – conceding solely 27 objectives in 30 video games previous to this defeat – when requested whether or not stress or complacency was affecting his facet, and denied the end result and efficiency was any greater than a foul day on the workplace.
“There’s all the time plenty of consideration round Liverpool,” he informed Sky Sports activities. “That does not begin now, that is been there the entire season.
“After all, folks need to make tales however for me it is all about taking part in Fulham. They are a good crew, and in case you then make three errors it’ll be very tough to win the sport towards them.
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Premier League highlights of the match between Fulham and Liverpool
“On the whole, we don’t make many of those errors, not to mention three in a single recreation. In the present day, we additionally had (Ibrahima) Konate shedding the ball too.
“The second half was so significantly better than the primary, nevertheless it’s laborious to win a recreation of soccer at this degree in case you concede three objectives like this.
“You would really feel that we had been creating plenty of possibilities, we have had a number of however sadly we lacked time ultimately to attain the third purpose. That has to do with us conceding three objectives, as a result of to attain three in an away recreation could be very laborious particularly towards a very good crew like Fulham.”
Slot goals shot at Man Metropolis: We have labored more durable for this place
Slot in contrast Liverpool to the Man Metropolis facet who gained 4 consecutive Premier League titles by suggesting his crew had wanted to work more durable to get into the place they discover themselves in, with an 11-point lead on the high of the desk with seven video games remaining.
“There is not any purpose for us to be complacent,” he stated. “We’re not first as a result of we win each recreation by a margin of three or 4 objectives.
“I feel 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, after all.
“However the crew that gained the league the final 4 seasons (Man Metropolis) had been already 3-0 up at half-time virtually 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 now we have to compete for seven extra video games.
“We noticed it on Wednesday towards Everton. It was a detailed name. In the present day was a detailed name. Many occasions we have been on the best facet. In the present day we had been on the flawed facet, primarily due to the errors we made.”
‘There’ll all the time be moments when Van Dijk will undergo’
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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 tough afternoon at Craven Cottage after struggling towards Beto on Wednesday night time 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 purpose, misjudging a excessive ball and permitting Rodrigo Muniz to have a transparent run on purpose earlier than firing residence.
“I primarily give credit score to different gamers as nicely,” stated Slot when requested about his captain’s kind. “Van Dijk is just not the primary participant to search out it tough to defend towards Beto. And the one which performed right here as we speak, it’s important to give credit score to him additionally.
“I nonetheless see plenty of issues that Virgil does rather well, however in case you play 50-60 video games a season, there might be moments, even for him, the place you might have accomplished higher.”
