Arne Slot has admitted that Liverpool are not performing to the standards expected at the club ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Sunderland in the Premier League.
The inconsistent Merseyside outfit have mixed the good with the bad in recent weeks; comfortable wins over Marseille, Qarabag and Newcastle United have been undercut by a draw with Burnley and defeats to Bournemouth and Manchester City.
The reigning champions now face a real battle to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League. They currently reside in sixth place, four points behind Chelsea in fifth, after winning just one of their last five top-flight matches.
Arne Slot admits Reds ‘not performing to Liverpool standards’
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Slot says it is not easy for his players as they are fully aware they are not reaching the lofty expectations at Liverpool.
“A draw feels like a loss at this club,” he said. “That’s definitely not easy for players as well because they know what the standards of Liverpool mean, and we are not performing to the standards of Liverpool at the moment and they feel that disappointment.
“Mainly because we are so close every single game. Every game it feels as though we are going to win it but it doesn’t happen. And that is probably more difficult than when you play a game and throughout the whole game you feel like the other team is better and you’re just not good enough.
“But that’s not what they feel. They feel performance wise that they can compete with any other team in any league in the world.
“But reality is that we don’t perform to Liverpool standards.”
