"Slot" has made a decision after Liverpool struggled against the bottom-placed team and lost to Wolves, shaking their hopes of qualifying for the UCL.
On 4 Mar 2026 GMT+7, Arne Slot, Liverpool's head coach, spoke after the 29th Premier League match of the 2025-26 season, in which Liverpool surprisingly lost 1-2 away to bottom team Wolverhampton. The winning goal came from André in injury time at 90+4 minutes, deflecting into the net.
In the latest Premier League table, the Reds remain on 48 points in 5th place, still with a chance to catch 3rd place Manchester United and 4th place Aston Villa, both on 51 points, who have pulled ahead. Chelsea sits 6th with 45 points, closing in on the UCL qualification spots.
Currently, Liverpool have played one more match than Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Chelsea. In the final nine Premier League fixtures, Liverpool still face these three teams, making it crucial not to drop points like in the loss to Wolverhampton during this decisive run for a UCL spot.
When asked if this kind of defeat alters Liverpool's expectations of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, Arne Slot remained confident they would achieve the goal and vowed to find ways to maximize wins in the closing stages.
The Liverpool manager said, "My expectations have shifted throughout the season because I expected more from us and from what we are fighting for right now."
"But this is another defeat, and the result today doesn’t help us at all. Still, we have nine games left to play, so we are approaching the end of the season."
"Dropping points in a game like this, which was unnecessary considering the overall play—I’m not saying we played very well, but if we played like this ten times, I don’t think we would lose all ten."
"But I’m not sure we would win every time either, because that would mean we’re not playing well enough. If we don’t want to rely on deflected goals, we need to do better. We have to play better, but we had enough chances to win this game."