Slot Talk: “Everyone Can See There’s a Lot to Improve”

Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot attends a team training session at their training ground in Kirkby, Liverpool, north-west England on April 7, 2026, on the eve of their UEFA Champions League, quarter final first leg football match against Paris Saint-Germain. (Photo by PETER POWELL / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

Based on how things have gone so far in the 2025-26 season, there’s really no good reason to expect Liverpool’s trip to France tomorrow to face Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final tie to go at all well for Arne Slot’s struggling Reds.

Upsets, though, do happen. Sometimes talented but misfiring squads remember how to play football. Sometimes crisis resolves in unexpectedly positive ways. The smart money of course isn’t on that happening for Liverpool on this occasion, but until it’s played out a negative result is never guaranteed.

“This year we have become quite experienced in terms of negativity because of all the setbacks we’ve had,” Slot said at his pre-match press conference after his side landed in Paris. “This [Manchester City on Saturday in the FA Cup was a big one because it was a quarter-final.

“It was a big loss and against our rivals. But for me it felt just as bad when we were 3-2 up at Leeds and conceded in injury time or when we were ahead at Fulham and conceded in injury time. I cannot name all the setbacks we have had this season—if other people want to ask questions it’s not possible.”

Between the matches, it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Slot, who was given the most difficult of pre-seasons imaginable when asked to prepare his side in the wake of the tragic death of Diogo Jota and has though it all resisted the urge to blame his underperforming players.

The tactics may feel underwhelming, the press broken, player fitness levels questionable, and motivation—something in the end just as much the responsibility of the manager as all the rest—severely lacking. Seeing Slot calmly address the press through it all, though, it’s hard not to feel sympathy.

That he seems a fundamentally decent man and we’d all like it to be otherwise, though, doesn’t change the reality. And the reality is that even acknowledging for the circumstances of the season, a side that looks this lost in April makes it hard to have faith in those tasked with guiding it.

“Before you can look ahead to the next game you have to address that you have to improve,” Slot added of the position he and his team are in. “Everyone can see there’s a lot to improve. But I don’t think it matters if [PSG] are favourites. It’s only about two games, and a lot can happen in two games.”