Arne Slot told 'this is not Liverpool' as ex-player offers damning assessment

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Liverpool lost ground in the race for the Champions League with a disappointing defeat to Wolves and a former Reds player pulled no punches with his assessment

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Former Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant took aim at Arne Slot after Liverpool's dramatic defeat to Wolves dented its Champions League hopes.

The Reds were below par at Molineux but looked set to grab at least a point against the bottom-placed side when Mohamed Salah leveled the scores in the second half. But instead of pushing for the win, Liverpool came unstuck in the final minutes when Andre's shot was deflected past the stranded Alisson.

The defeat leaves Liverpool in fifth in the Premier League table but Chelsea could draw level if it picks up a win at Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Boss Slot has found his tactics questioned this season with Liverpool shipping 39 goals, more than the rest of the top six, in what has been a poor title defense.

And Pennant was the latest to assess the situation and offered a damning verdict on the current situation at Anfield.

"Right, I know Arne Slot isn’t on the pitch, but wow!!! They are his tactics, his style, and his instructions… you are playing Wolves, not Arsenal not Man City. Press them from the front for once try win the ball high, this is not Liverpool sorry it’s just not," he wrote on social media after the final whistle.

His comments came after Steven Gerrard also criticized Slot and his players after conceding yet another late goal.

Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool look dejected(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“For 65 minutes Liverpool was desperate tonight, really poor,” the ex-captain said. “They didn’t play with the right tempo and they didn’t show the quality you expect from a team chasing the Champions League places.”

Gerrard also called on Slot to give Rio Ngumoha some more minutes in place of the out-of-sorts Cody Gakpo, starting with the FA Cup return to Wolves.

He added: “He’s done more in that short spell than Gakpo did in 65 minutes. He deserves an opportunity. Slot has to start the kid on Friday night.”

For Slot, it was another disappointing night and he pulled no punches with his post-match comments, with Liverpool in real danger of missing out on next season's Champions League.

"How do I sum this up? Same old story," Slot said. "Recently we are picking up points because we score many times from set-pieces, but what hasn't changed in the last five, six seven games is that we struggle and find it very hard to score from open-play chances that we do create.

"Not as much as I would like from all the ball possession we have but enough and far more than the other team. But the end result is we scored one and they scored two and another one in injury time so it sums up our season again."