Sloth believes that scoring goals is an area where the whole team needs to improve.

The 28th round of the 2025/26 Premier League season will feature a key match as Liverpool host West Ham at Old Trafford. Manager Sloot emphasized in his press conference that scoring goals is a team-wide issue that needs improvement, not just targeting a single striker.

Liverpool secured a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in their last Premier League match thanks to a crucial goal from McAllister. After three wins and two losses in their last five games, Liverpool currently sit 6th in the table with 45 points, three points behind 4th-placed Manchester United, making their race for Champions League qualification still extremely competitive.

Liverpool manager Sloot said, "For me, this is just another game for us, and we won't focus too much on other teams. As all managers often say, we're mainly focused on ourselves. We know that to qualify for the Champions League, we have to win a lot of games because our competitors are just as good and are winning all the time. So we have to keep winning, that's our focus, not on points or the gap. Of course, we are aware of the situation in the standings."

“If we’re going to analyze Salah’s performance in detail, that’s something we do internally, and it’s probably not the right place to do it now. We’re used to Salah scoring a lot of goals, and right now his biggest change is probably in his goal tally or playing time. But we also know that this has happened even when I was coaching. I’m not sure if there’s ever been a nine-game goalless streak, but I’ve been asked similar questions before, like when he went three or five games without scoring. But I also know that eventually he’ll start scoring again.”

Slott pointed out, "This is the challenge he faces now, and it's also our challenge: to make sure he regains his scoring touch. Because it's not just him; our other forwards haven't been scoring at the level we're used to lately. While he's in the spotlight for everything he does for the club, Ekittiq and Gakopo haven't been scoring much either. This is an issue the whole team needs to address. The good news is that we've kept a clean sheet, which means they don't need to score too many goals. Even though we scored six against Qarabag and four against Newcastle."

The situation of the game has become unpredictable.

Furthermore, West Ham currently sits in 18th place with 25 points and needs more points to escape the relegation zone. In head-to-head records, Liverpool have won 4 and drawn 1 of their last 5 matches against West Ham.

Slot continued, "Sometimes the data reflects the right thing, and sometimes it gets interpreted. But one thing remains unchanged: we've had a very tough time against newly promoted teams, including home games against Burnley and Leeds United. We also understand how difficult it is to win games, no matter where the opponent is in the standings. That's the Premier League today, and it's not just happening to us."

“Like all managers, I watch a lot of games before facing a team. Maybe four or five, sometimes more, sometimes less. I can tell you that we are not the only team that played like we did against Nottingham Forest in the first half of some games. This is due to the strength of the opponent, but also to their performance in the first half.”

Slaughter added, "This has probably been the new normal in the Premier League for the past two or three years. It used to be easier to identify the top teams because they could always beat the others. But things have changed recently, which may be related to the large amount of money invested in the league and the fact that many team owners can also invest a lot of money."

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