Arne Slot would have been frustrated after witnessing his Liverpool side deservedly lose 3-2 against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Considering Alexis Mac Allister scored the opener in style as well, Slot would have been shell-shocked after the Reds leaked three goals in the first-half — with Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz all getting on the scoresheet.
Liverpool have been widely lauded for their rock-solid defence this campaign but both Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk had games to forget as they made uncharacteristic errors — with the Dutchman being too easily turned by Muniz before the second goal went in.
Arne Slot would have hoped that coming off the back of their crucial 1-0 win against Everton coupled with Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against the Toffees would have given his side enough motivation to get the job done against the Cottagers.
But that was not the case, with Gary Neville chiming in on what he felt Slot would have said in the Liverpool dressing room after their defeat against Fulham.
Gary Neville on Arne Slot’s Premier League title warning to Liverpool after Fulham result
Gary Neville won eight Premier League titles and he too would have experienced similar situations to that of the Liverpool players against Fulham where Manchester United dropped points unexpectedly while being runaway leaders at the top of the table.
It is difficult to pinpoint whether complacency set in amongst the visiting players or whether it was simply a case of the hosts being brilliant on the day.
But regardless, the league leaders would not be hoping to hand Arsenal any hope that they have a way back in the title race.
The Manchester United legend initially claimed that Liverpool looked complacent against Fulham on the Gary Neville Podcast: “It just looked like a team to me that knew that they’d won the league against Everton at home in a big game and then obviously Arsenal not winning again yesterday [against Everton]. I think you’re almost like we can afford to make a mistake here and in life, just as a habit, when you take a breath and go, ooh [sighs], we’re nearly there, it just gives you a little punch and a little dig and that’s what Liverpool have had.”
“So, it’s not unsurprising that Liverpool have gone down there, just a little bit of a celebration probably type day because they know they’ve won the league. They can make mistakes. Now, what they want to make sure is they don’t want to make it scruffy for the next few weeks. They will get over the line, there’s no way anyone’s going to catch them and they deserve the league title.”
Gary Neville claimed that Arne Slot would have told Liverpool’s players not to make their final weeks of the season a “mess” after their loss against Fulham.
“But that will be a message from Arne Slot in the dressing room will be, ‘Lads, seriously, don’t mess this up to an extent where we basically win by five points at the end and everyone thinks it was close when you look back. It’s not been close. So, go and win it by 12, 13, 14 points, go and keep your consistency in your performance levels high’ because you don’t want to finish the season with a bit of a lull.”
Liverpool players might have broken one Arne Slot rule vs Fulham
However, as Gary Neville stated, Arne Slot and Liverpool remain on course to become Premier League champions despite their result against Fulham.
Joe Gomez revealed Slot warns Liverpool’s players not to let complacency creep in, which may have hurt them against the West Londoners: “Arne is constantly reminding us that we cannot get complacent. The coaching staff and the gaffer’s attention to detail is second to none.”
How Liverpool fare against West Ham United on Sunday will now determine whether they have indeed let their foot off the gas or if they simply had a bad day at the office on the weekend.
