Arne Slot makes feelings clear on Liverpool contract as controversial complaint clarified

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Arne Slot has revealed that negotiating for a new contract at Liverpool isn't on his mind, as he focuses on returning to winning ways. The Reds have endured a rough patch in the Premier League as of recent, suffering four consecutive defeats in the top flight.

Crystal Palace , Chelsea , Manchester United and Brentford have all put his side to the sword as of recent, as Liverpool languish in seventh in the standings. It's a major blow in their hopes to defend the Premier League title they won last term.

Looking ahead to his team's clash with Aston Villa come Saturday, Slot was probed on a variety of topics, from injury news to the reasoning for the Reds' recent slump. Here, Mirror Football breaks down some of the most pressing lines from Slot's conference at the AXA Training Centre on Friday morning...

Slot was visibly taken aback when he was asked by the media about negotiations for a new contract at Anfield, especially given the club's recent run of form in which they have lost six of their last seven across all competitions.

When asked if talks are ongoing between the Dutchman and executives, he laughed before responding: "This is the last question that I was expecting.

"I think my focus should be completely on getting Liverpool back on winning ways. That's my first answer.

"And my second answer is that contract talks, if they are even there, we never speak about this here. But let us first start to win again, that's what my main focus is on."

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The 47-year-old arrived on Merseyside as Jurgen Klopp's successor last spring, signing a deal which should keep him at the club until 2027. However, as shown by the club holding off on negotiating new deals for Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah last term, it's clear that extending his stay isn't at the top of his list of priorities this early into the season.

Despite raising concerns by complaining about his squad depth after Liverpool's 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup , Slot admitted that "nothing is missing" from his team at present during his latest press conference. When asked about his current crop, he explained: "We miss nothing, I'm happy that you asked this question.

"I'm completely happy with the team, with all of the quality we have, and I'm also completely convinced by the policy and the strategy that we have. But the issue, if you could talk about an issue, is that not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured during the season.

"So then when three or four are injured, you go back to 16 players. I'm a firm believer in the fact that 20, 21 players are enough, but you have to keep them fit as we did last season. And we are struggling a bit more to keep them fit for, in my opinion, obvious reasons.

" Alex [Isak] is a great example of this, came to us I think September 1. A few others have missed out on pre-season, a few others have had their injuries in pre-season, so it has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available. And then if a few of them are not available, then it comes down a lot towards the same players.

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"Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we're a bit more unlucky. Again, no excuses for our results before people are going to say this again, but we had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in between. And that would have been a difficult schedule for every player last season, and I mean the players who have been fit throughout pre-season and the whole season.

"But that has not been our situation. And then I think you have to manage it because upcoming week is again three in seven or eight days. So it has nothing to do with the squad depth, it has to do with how we've went through the season in terms of injuries and availability, and players available to play every single time two games in three days."

It comes after Alan Shearer criticised Slot for his controversial choice of words following the loss to Crystal Palace, in which the manager bemoaned his side's limited options despite investing £400million in new additions this summer.

Elsewhere in his press conference, Slot offered a positive update on midfield maestro Ryan Gravenberch , explaining how the Dutchman has returned to training after recovering from an ankle injury sustained during Liverpool's 2-1 loss to Manchester United earlier this month.

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He said: "Ryan trained with us yesterday, the other two [Isak and Curtis Jones ] didn't yet," before he was probed on a timescale on the others. He added: "As I've said many times, in the end phase of the injury, things can slow down a bit or things can go fast.

"Lets wait and see where they are. Like I said, Ryan trained with us for the first time yesterday, he will train with us today and then we're going to make the call on if he can start, yes or no. The other two are probably 99.9 per cent sure not in the squad on Saturday."

It comes as Isak is currently recovering from a groin issue sustained against Eintracht Frankfurt, while Jones was withdrawn for a similar issue during Liverpool's loss to Brentford at the weekend - with both missing the clash with Crystal Palace midweek.

Despite suffering quite the losing streak, Slot also noted that he has no plans of changing his team's style of play in their upcoming games with Aston Villa and Manchester City . When asked about potentially playing out from the back and building from defence going forward, Slot said: "It does go against my beliefs, but I've won games in the past - so we're talking about City away - that maybe went against my beliefs, but it was necessary to play it over there like that in the second-half.

"So I would be more than open to adapt in certain situations. But I don't think the story is, at least in my opinion, that we concede chance, after chance, after chance and that we are too open. It's absolutely not like this every single game, apart from maybe Palace because in the first-half we could have been two or three-nil down.

"And maybe the Brentford game. I think all the other games we deserved much more than we got. And we hardly conceded a chance, even this week with the team I put out which played for the first time together - I think they only conceded three big chances, unfortunately all three went in but that's because they were big. They weren't chances, they were big chances.

"I don't see us conceding a lot of chances, so I don't see a reason to change our playing style completely, but we need to do better in not conceding goals, that's for sure."

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