Arne Slot told to 'fight on' amid calls for Liverpool boss to be sacked

Under-fire Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been told to ‘fight on’ and not worry about outside noise over his job security amid a shocking run of form.

The Premier League champions have lost nine of their last 12 games and two embarrassing defeats at Anfield this week, against Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven, led some fans to call for Slot to be sacked.

Daily Mail Sport reported on Thursday morning that Slot retains the backing of the Liverpool hierarchy, according to sources close to the club and the head coach.

And asked if he had spoken to the top brass after the 4-1 defeat to the Dutch champions, he said: ‘We have had the same conversations since I was here.

‘I am not sure if I said last night but we fight on, we try to improve – that's what we all try.

‘But the conversations have been the same as they have been for the last one-and-a-years.’

Slot is determined his team are showing the necessary fight to turn this slump around ahead of their trip to the London Stadium to face West Ham on Sunday.

‘In the first 85 minutes (against PSV), or for large parts of the game, I saw a team that have had a lot of setbacks recently and were still able to fight against that,’ he added.

‘Not always with the end product you would like because fighting is of course part of what you should do. But if a fight was enough to win a game of football then it would be quite easy.

‘You need a little bit of something extra as well, you need quality playing one-v-ones, getting crosses in the box and arriving with the right timing.

‘But I see a team that never gives up. I see the running stats, I see it in the chances we create after we go down, but I agree the last five or ten minutes against Forest and the last five or ten minutes of yesterday’s game were not the same as the other minutes we played.

‘For me that is not that this team lacks fighting spirit, no. Maybe in the last few minutes but not in the rest of the game.’

Slot was holding his pre-match press conference at the unusual time of Thursday afternoon because Liverpool’s players are not training on Friday, though they will do recovery work and also do a session on Saturday before travelling to London.

The head coach has been called on to make personnel changes and he should be boosted by the return of No 1 goalkeeper Alisson, who missed the PSV defeat with illness. The Brazilian trained on Thursday.

Florian Wirtz, who has missed the last two games, is hopeful of training on Saturday, while an injury to Hugo Ekitike – he was forced off with back problems – is not thought to be serious. He is a doubt for Sunday but has a chance.