Liverpool boss Arne Slot has painted a frank picture of his team's challenging first half to the season, labelling it a "constant battle" while effectively ruling his side out of the current Premier League title race.
Title Race Realities for Liverpool
The Dutch manager offered a sober assessment after seeing his team held to a goalless draw by Leeds United on New Year's Day. That result left the reigning champions 12 points behind leaders Arsenal and looking up at both Mikel Arteta's side and Manchester City. Slot admitted that, realistically, the championship is now a duel between those two clubs.
"Realistically I think there are two teams," Slot stated when asked about the title picture. "Villa are really close but Arsenal created a bit of a gap by beating Villa and those two teams are quite far away from us. We should not look at those two at this moment in time."
A Season of Struggle Without 'Magic'
Despite being unbeaten in eight matches and climbing back into the top four, Slot insisted his team are not "flying." He reflected on a campaign that began with narrow wins, descended into a poor run of form – the club's worst in 71 years – and has now stabilised into a grind.
"Every single game we play it's hard work," he explained. "We are mainly the team that is probably better but not enough. For the first 19 games it has been a constant battle, close to each other, sometimes a bit lucky, sometimes a bit unlucky."
Slot pinpointed a recurring issue in attack, despite improved defensive solidity. The Leeds match was Liverpool's first goalless draw in 84 games under his management. "We find it quite hard to generate enough chances for all the ball possession we have," he conceded, adding that sometimes a team needs "a kind of magic to unlock a game."
Looking Ahead to Fulham and Beyond
Attention now turns to Sunday's trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham, with defender Joe Gomez potentially returning from injury. Slot will also be hoping for a greater impact from key attackers like Florian Wirtz, who has scored only once so far this season.
In other news, Slot paid tribute to set-piece coach Aaron Briggs, who left the club this week. He described Briggs as a "very good human being and a very promising, good English coach" who deserved another chance at the highest level after contributing significantly to last season's title win.
The overarching message from the Liverpool camp is one of realism. While a Champions League place is back in their grasp, any talk of a dramatic title defence has been shelved for now as Slot's team focuses on finding the consistency and spark that has so far eluded them.
