Arne Slot actions speaks volumes after Dubai trip sparked Liverpool backlash

Liverpool suffered a fourth successive defeat as they were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, with Arne Slot’s side now facing an uphill battle to get their season back on track

Arne Slot reportedly spent considerable time working on a plan to get Liverpool back to their best during his Dubai trip. Some fans had criticised Slot for taking time away during the international break, but it’s now emerged that he had not disconnected from his job.

Liverpool came crashing back to earth after the international break as any hopes of ending their losing run were ended by a late Manchester United winner on Sunday. Slot’s men suffered a 2-1 loss against their bitter rivals at Anfield, falling to a fourth consecutive defeat.

In the final moments of the match, Harry Maguire scored a decisive goal for the Red Devils, marking their first victory at Anfield since 2016. Consequently, Liverpool were left ruing yet another late defeat – their third in a row in the Premier League.

Despite splashing out £450m on eight new senior signings over the summer, including record-breaking acquisitions Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, Slot’s revamped squad has yet to find its rhythm. Their ongoing poor form has seen them slip to fourth place in the Premier League standings.

READ MORE: Arne Slot’s behaviour in Liverpool dressing room after Man Utd defeat comes to lightREAD MORE: Jamie Carragher hits out at £125m Liverpool call that leaves ‘best signing’ on the bench

However, it at least wasn’t all doom and gloom for Liverpool’s players during the international break. Several of Slot’s squad put in strong performances for their national teams before their disappointing return to club duty against Manchester United.

Cody Gakpo was particularly impressive, scoring three goals and providing an assist for the Netherlands in their matches against Malta and Finland. Virgil van Dijk also found the back of the net in the latter game, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Dominik Szoboszlai was a standout performer for Hungary, scoring a last-minute equaliser and setting up a goal in their 2-2 draw with Portugal. Meanwhile, Alexis Mac Allister bagged two goals in Argentina’s 6-0 friendly victory over Puerto Rico.

Hugo Ekitike marked his full debut for France with an assist against Azerbaijan, while Andy Robertson set up the winning goal in Scotland’s 2-1 triumph over Belarus.

And Mohamed Salah netted twice in Egypt’s 3-0 win over Djibouti, to secure their spot in the upcoming World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. His brace also saw him become the outright leading goalscorer in African qualification history.

However, back at Liverpool, Salah had another challenging day against United, missing a clear opportunity from close range before being substituted late in the game when the Reds were desperate for a goal.

Despite his recent scoring exploits for Egypt, Salah has been under fire due to his lacklustre form for Liverpool.

Slot, who took over from Jurgen Klopp, led Liverpool to Premier League glory in his first season but has not escaped criticism from disgruntled fans, particularly on social media, either.

Some supporters even criticised Slot for spending his international break holidaying in Dubai. However, this doesn’t mean Slot completely disconnected from Liverpool’s woes back in Merseyside.

On the contrary, the Daily Mail reports that sources close to Slot claim he spent a significant portion of his holiday plotting how to improve Liverpool’s recent performance, studying clips on his laptop.

Despite Liverpool’s recent struggles, the Reds’ head coach is resolute in his determination to turn around the team’s dwindling fortunes, acknowledging it as one of the most significant challenges of his managerial career.

“I think as a manager you face constantly challenges,” he confessed after the defeat to United. “When I just started, you face the challenge of being a new manager and then you need to win games.

“Then when you do well you go to a bigger club and people are like, ‘Oh, let’s see how he does over there.’ Then you go to be the successor of Jurgen Klopp and people say this is the biggest challenge you ever faced.

“Now we have lost four times in a row and that’s also a challenge. So, the life of a football manager is an ongoing challenge. If you win games you want to keep winning, if you lose games you want to start winning again.

“Do we lose confidence? I cannot see it yet, because every single game we’ve lost, we were able to create in the second half an unbelievable amount of chances.

“If you look back at all the three games we’ve lost in the Premier League, if you just put all the highlights [next to] each other, you would say it’s hardly possible that they lose this game.

“So if we can keep producing what we are doing and do a few things a little bit better, then there is every reason to expect that we start to win football games again.

“But I cannot promise you that on Wednesday evening we are again able to create eight, nine or 10 open chances. I hope so, and with the players we have then it will lead in the end to us scoring more goals.”

Liverpool are back in action away at Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday in the Champions League.

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