When a rebuild takes longer than a calendar season: Slot opens up on Liverpool’s bumpy path to consistency

Slot’s honest take on the rebuild

The coach attributed the issue to changes in the squad.

Liverpool manager, Dutch coach Arne Slot, admitted he had been overly optimistic about how long it would take his revamped side to deliver a steady level of performance.

Pre-match insights and injury news

Slot spoke at the pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool's trip to Tottenham in matchweek 17 of the Premier League: "I think we are getting closer to the team I want us to be, and there have been bumps along the way. But for me, that makes sense given all the changes we made in the summer, which we did deliberately because we believed they were needed."

"If I'm completely honest, perhaps I didn’t expect it to take this long... looking back, I think I was too positive."

When you start with a new group, not all players are ready to play every game for 90 minutes at that level of intensity, you have to adapt. Sometimes a player can feature, other times not, so it may take some time. We were also very unlucky."

Slot also confirmed injuries to Joe Gomez and Cody Gakpo for the Tottenham game, while hoping Dominik Szoboszlai would be ready to start, and Frimpong would return after a two-month absence.

Punchline 1: If patience were a sniper in training, Liverpool’s timeline would still be on the target but missing the bullseye—practice makes perfect, or at least less wobbly.

Punchline 2: In football rebuilds and stand-up, timing is everything—Slot seems to have the timing of a guy who forgot his watch, but still aims for the joke in the final whistle.