Arne Slot reveals private Jurgen Klopp chat about pressing Liverpool title issue

Arne Slot has revealed he has spoken to Jurgen Klopp to ensure Liverpool do not suffer a Premier League collapse like they did last season.

Liverpool were five points clear at the top after beating Chelsea on January 31 before they stumbled over the run-in to finish third, nine points behind champions Manchester City. Slot can see the statistics in black and white and spoke to Klopp when he succeeded him to get his thoughts on what went wrong.

The Reds head coach has made changes to make sure Liverpool maintain their momentum - but won’t say what they are. “It’s not something new,” he said.

“I heard about the five points and I knew that in the first half of the season, the team were better than in the second half of the season. OK, what are your thoughts on why this has happened?

“And even the first time or the second time I spoke with Jurgen, we spoke about that. What was his opinion, why they maybe dipped a bit in the end?

“But I think you can’t compare last season with this season, although maybe there are certain things we just try to implement already. You’re now going to ask me what are they, but I’m not going to give you an answer!”

Injuries crippled Liverpool in the final months and they were almost missing an entire team at times with the likes of Alisson, Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah absent. Slot was been fortunate with injuries and he has nearly all of his big players available.

“I’ve said this season that every single point we have, we’ve deserved,” he said. “If that was the situation last season as well, being five points clear, it’s still a disappointment.

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

“But if in the first half of the season, maybe they were a bit lucky, then it’s not a surprise that in the second half of the season, things changed. It’s not to say that things cannot change now because we have to keep on doing the things we do.

“We must not get injuries and all these kind of things. All the players are important, but there are a few who are a bit more important than maybe some of the others, so there’s a lot to play for.”

Former Feyenoord boss Slot will make changes for Wednesday’s Champions League game at his old rivals PSV Eindhoven with Liverpool already through to the last 16 and Federico Chiesa is expected to make only his second start for the Reds.

Chiesa, 27, has a goal and an assist from his eight appearances and Slot is keen to give the Italy international more game time to build up his match fitness. Liverpool need just a point to top the group phase and Conor Bradley, Jarrel Quansah, Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliott could also start.

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