Sloter insists that only fighting hard throughout the game can win the game

In the 31st round of the 2024/25 Premier League, Liverpool took the lead with McAllister's goal, but then lost goals one after another. Although Diaz scored a goal in the second half, the Reds still lost to Fulham 2-3. Sloter emphasized in an interview that the team can only win if they keep fighting for 90 minutes in the game.

Gravenberch passed the ball in the 14th minute, McAllister received it and then fought his way into the penalty area with a long shot from the top, helping Liverpool take the lead 1-0. In the 23rd minute, Pereira's cross was cleared by Jones, and Sessegnon volleyed the ball to help Fulham tie the score 1-1.

In the 32nd minute, Robertson made a mistake in clearing the ball, and Iwobi took the ball back, adjusted a few steps, and then shot the ball into the goal, helping Fulham to overtake 2 to 1. In the 37th minute, Rodrigo Muniz received Iwobi's pass, broke through the defense and shot the ball into the goal, helping Fulham to expand their lead to 3 to 1.

In the 72nd minute, Diaz received a diagonal pass from Connor Bradley and shot the ball into the net, helping Liverpool to pull away with a score of 2-3. In the end, Liverpool lost to Fulham 2-3 away from home.

After suffering their second league defeat this season, Liverpool currently ranks first in the standings with 73 points, 11 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal.

When asked about the team's problems in the game, Liverpool coach Slot pointed out, "I think the first half was mainly a problem in the first 15 minutes. Before we lost the ball, I also saw some normal game content for us, such as some good ball organization and positioning, so the full 45 minutes of performance was not a disaster. I think the mistakes made by the team are not common to us in normal times, which is different from playing badly. "

Not enough time to create more opportunities

"It can happen, especially against a good team like Fulham. If we make mistakes, they have the ability to make us pay. I think in the second half we created a lot of chances and it was possible to get back, but there wasn't enough time."

Slot said, "Especially in the first 20 minutes of the second half, I didn't feel that we had any threat to score. But in the last 20 to 25 minutes, I think everyone could see that we were capable of scoring the third goal. Because of this, there was not much effective playing time in the final stage."

"I told the players that they showed great fighting spirit in the second half. However, this is not the first time this season that we have had a sluggish performance in the first half, although the number of times is not large, such as the home game against Southampton. We usually rely on the team's mentality, physical reserves and the performance of substitutes to turn the situation around, but it was not enough in this game."

In addition, Sloter also emphasized, "In fact, the players have already realized that the only way for us to win is to go all out for 90 minutes and continue to work hard."

"I've said it several times before, we're not the kind of team that can go 3-0 or 4-0 up at halftime with three or four great plays. Almost every one of our wins was hard work, with two or three exceptions."