Slot says Wolves defeat sums up Liverpool's season

Arne Slot said Liverpool's dismal defeat to Wolves "sums up their season", hitting out at their profligacy in attack and their tendency to concede late goals.

Liverpool arrived at Molineux chasing a fourth straight Premier League win, which would have taken them level with Manchester United and Aston Villa in the race for a top-four finish.

And they were up against a team that, until beating Aston Villa four days ago, could still have surpassed Derby County's class of 2007-08 as the worst Premier League team ever.

But after Mohamed Salah cancelled out Rodrigo Gomes' opener, Andre's shot deflected beyond Alisson in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, stunning last season's champions.

Liverpool have now lost five Premier League games thanks to 90th-minute goals this season, the most ever by a team in a single campaign. 

And it was also the first time in Premier League history that a team inside the relegation zone had scored a last-minute winner to defeat the defending champions.

But after seeing his team win the expected goals (xG) battle by 1.8 to 0.4, Slot was most upset by their failings in the final third.

He told reporters: "It's the same old story. Recently, we were picking up points because we've scored from set-pieces many times, but what did not change in the last five, six or seven games is that we have found it very hard to score from open play. 

"The end result is we score one, and they score two, and indeed, another goal conceded in extra time. So, it sums up our season again.

"What I mean by, 'It sums up the season,' is that we've had far more possession than the other team, we've created more chances, but from open play we struggled to score. 

"The one we conceded [Andre's goal] was not even a chance, and that is what has happened so many times to us this season. 

"That it happened in extra time might be a coincidence, although it happened so many times, but we hardly gave away a chance. We gave away one chance but conceded two."

Liverpool could now find themselves six points adrift of the top four after Wednesday's matches, and Slot admits he expected much more from his second season in charge.

"My expectations have changed throughout the season because I expected more from us than what we are fighting for now," he said. 

"It's another setback, and we didn't help ourselves with this result, not at all. We are coming closer and closer to the end and have dropped points in a game where it was absolutely not necessary, if you look at the balance of play. 

"It wasn't that we played great. I'm not saying that, but if we played this game in this fashion 10 times, I don't think we would lose 10 times."

Centre-back Virgil van Dijk, meanwhile, said Liverpool's players must take responsibility for their poor display. 

"I think it's down to ourselves. We were slow, we were predictable and sloppy in possession and wrong with our decision-making," Van Dijk told TNT Sports.

"Obviously, we didn't concede chances, but if you perform like that, then a result like this can come from that. That's a fact. 

"The whole season has not been easy. It was always going to be an up-and-down season for multiple reasons. The league is strong, and the league is demanding every three or four days, and it's a big battle."