Arne Slot hints at Liverpool transfer failings after Brighton loss

Tom Weber

• Updated: 21 Mar 2026 17:05 GMT
• 5 min read

News

Liverpool boss Arne Slot hinted at frustration over the size of his squad after another loss in the Premier League.

The Reds suffered their 10th defeat of the league campaign on Saturday when they were outfought by Brighton at the Amex. A brace from Danny Welbeck either side of a Milos Kerkez goal saw the reigning champions drop yet more points in the race for the Champions League places.

Liverpool have now lost as many Premier League games this term as they did over the past two seasons combined. One has to go back a decade to find a campaign in which the Anfield club suffered as many defeats as in 2025/26.

It has been a remarkable collapse from Slot's title-winners, despite record-shattering investment over the summer. Liverpool spent more than €480 million on new players, breaking the Premier League record for incoming transfers twice.

Their summer business has left them very top-heavy, and Slot is paying the price. Liverpool failed to adequately bolster their defence and central midfield, instead prioritising attacking signings. Despite this, Hugo Ekitike is the only forward who has scored with any kind of consistency this term.

Slot admits transfer model has left his job hanging in the balance

The pressure on Slot is mounting, and it is widely believed that he will be sacked by Liverpool if they fail to qualify for next season's Champions League. That race is not yet run, but Saturday's defeat certainly made life more difficult.

At times, Slot has spoken like a man who knows that he won't be there next season. While he has always been candid, some of his comments this term have been needlessly confrontational or just downright baffling.

Speaking after Brighton, Slot was perhaps a bit more reflective than usual, giving credit to Brighton for being the better team and admitting that he is struggling to find "answers" to what Premier League teams are throwing at him this season.

There is no doubt that, despite the summer's record spend, he has been dealt a difficult hand. Injuries have played their part in Liverpool's slump. The Premier League's most expensive player ever, Alexander Isak, has missed large chunks of the campaign.

Mohamed Salah and Alisson suffered injuries in the build-up to the clash with the Seagulls, while Ekitike had to leave the pitch early in the game. Florian Wirtz previously suffered an injury just as he was beginning to really find his groove.

Slot has argued that he hasn't been able to rotate as much as other managers, and while there may be a kernel of truth in that assertion, the reality is that the Dutchman has also simply turned his nose up at certain players this season.

Rio Ngumoha, who was so impressive in the early stages of the campaign, became almost a forgotten man for months and has only recently returned to the fray. In January, amid a right-back crisis, Slot brutally dismissed the option of using Calvin Ramsay and elected to play star midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai in defence instead.

"I think the players need a break more than the manager," Slot said after the Brighton loss. "Unfortunately, they have to keep on playing. Let’s hope that their national team coaches do understand that at Liverpool, a lot of players have played a lot of minutes, like at other clubs, but I think other clubs perhaps could have rotated more than I could have this season."

Slot claims that Liverpool's "model" has left him short of options. His squad is too small to cope with the current injury problems, he asserts. The Reds indeed sold plenty of depth options in the summer to fund their massive outlay on new recruits, but let's not forget that many of the players, like Tyler Morton and Jarell Quansah, wanted to leave precisely because Slot didn't use them.

"That’s something I’m going to ask our data department, that a lot of our players are in the top 10 in terms of playing minutes, because I, so many times, have to play the same players because of the model we have and because of the injuries," he added.

"We don’t have a big squad, we always have to come back to the same players. These same players showed character, because I thought I saw that all the ones that played Wednesday [against Galatasaray] were still able to compete in the end."

Complaining about the size of the squad after breaking the Premier League spending record twice will do little to win over the Liverpool fans who have turned on him. World's smallest violin and all that.

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