17 hours ago
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Arne Slot and Cody Gakpo had to face up to some difficult questions in Tuesday's press conference, as the Dutch duo prepared for Liverpool's Champions League encounter against PSV Eindhoven.
The Reds will hope the clash offers a reprieve from the recent run of dismal defeats. Liverpool has lost its last two matches 3-0, and the optimism generated from the last Champions League win over Real Madrid three weeks ago has since dissipated.
Unsurprisingly, both were greeted with tough questions during the midweek Champions League media briefing, particularly Slot, who was asked what has changed from last season, whether he needs to "prove himself" and if the players have lost their "appetite for the battle".
"No we haven't," said Slot, responding to the last of those questions. "But in moments of games we have lost too many duels.
"I think the last game we played we had 75 percent ball possession [against Forest], which means you only have to defend 25 percent of the time.
"I think in and around our box we only had to defend four times. The first one was a set-piece which led to a goal, the second one was a goal that for me was incorrectly disallowed. The third time was the 2-0.
"It is not a thing that over 90 minutes we are not ready or we are not defending well enough, we only have to defend a few times.
"Maybe the answer is less ball possession, because that is what we had against Real Madrid and against Villa and both of the games we won.
"I don't think it's a general thing otherwise you cannot dominate the game the way we do if we don't win enough duels, but in moments we have to defend better because [Manchester] City was the same, although City was the better team in the first half they didn't create that much but the few times they did create we were lacking in intensity in our duels, yes."
Meanwhile, Gakpo admitted he was "embarrassed" by Saturday's defeat, and was asked - rather frankly - what has happened to the team’s resilience.
"I don't know where it's gone but we should try to get back to that," he replied. "We know we are in a difficult position.
"We have to stick together and that's what we try to do on and off pitch, mentally and performance-wise.
"It has not been the best of streaks and we have to fight through that. We know we are capable of doing it as we have shown some good performances like that [Real Madrid] but have to keep fighting."
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