Arne Slot: Liverpool players not losing sleep over recent losing run

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits they are well aware of the scrutiny on his side after three successive defeats, but does not believe the players “wake up at night” worrying about it.

After reeling off seven straight wins, they then lost three times in the week before the international break.

Slot admits having almost two weeks without being able to work with his players has had positives and negatives, but as they seek to avoid losing four in a row for the first time since November 2014, he does not believe it is weighing heavily on his squad.

“These players might need me – but I don’t think they need me – to tell them what has happened,” he said ahead of the visit of arch-rivals Manchester United, against whom they are looking to set a club-record 10 matches without defeat.

“Results don’t lie, if you lose three in a row we have to do better.

“But I think these players that have experienced so many things don’t wake up at night thinking ‘Oh, we lost three times’.

“We need to be aware of that and we are aware of that and we need to react to that, but we have to give the same reaction if we win three times in a row and Manchester United is on the fixture list.

“But maybe if you lose three times you are hoping for that spark or that one or two per cent more, not only from us but from our fans on Sunday.”

A fortnight without Premier League action has allowed some of the heated debate about their recent form, flagged as a “crisis” in some quarters, to die down.

However, Slot knows the harsh spotlight of scrutiny will refocus on his side at Anfield on Sunday.

He would have liked the opportunity to have corrected their blip as soon as possible, but with a number of players performing well for their countries, he is