Arne Slot had made a serene begin to the unenviable activity of succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, however a 1-0 house defeat to Nottingham Forest has introduced the Dutchman’s honeymoon interval to an abrupt finish and uncovered cracks within the Reds’ facade. Liverpool have little time to lick their wounds with a visit to AC Milan to return on Tuesday to open their return to the Champions League after a 12 months away from Europe’s elite membership competitors. Beneath Klopp, Liverpool’s status on the prime of the European sport was restored. 

The English giants reached three Champions League finals in 5 seasons between 2018 and 2022 and received the European Cup for the sixth time within the membership’s historical past.

That’s the legacy Slot inherits and the previous Feyenoord boss has not been handed a form draw by the brand new Champions League format.

Liverpool will face the 2 most succesful sides within the competitors’s historical past in Milan and Actual Madrid.

Xabi Alonso, who had been the favorite to switch Klopp, will return to Anfield with German champions Bayer Leverkusen in November, whereas Slot goes again to the Netherlands to face Dutch title holders PSV Eindhoven.

Additionally they face extra Italian, Spanish, German and French opposition in Bologna, Girona, Leipzig and Lille.

But Liverpool might relish that problem after struggling when Forest put 11 males behind the ball on Saturday and held out for his or her first win at Anfield in 55 years.

The house aspect loved practically 70 p.c possession however lacked the mandatory spark to make it depend.

“We misplaced the ball so many instances in easy conditions,” stated a pissed off Slot. “We had a variety of ball possession however solely managed to create three or 4 fairly good possibilities, so that’s by far not sufficient.”

The sensation of deflation for the Anfield trustworthy contrasted sharply with the elation that greeted a 3-0 win at Manchester United earlier than the worldwide break.

Even Klopp had struggled to grasp Previous Trafford throughout his practically 9 years in cost and the early indicators of Slot’s reign had been optimistic.

Over-reliance on Salah?

Liverpool received their opening three Premier League video games with out conceding because the Dutch coach imposed extra management and a bit extra warning to the free-flowing model of heavy metallic soccer that shortly received followers over underneath Klopp.

Slot now has to strike the stability of imposing his personal model whereas holding each the gamers and supporters onside throughout a transition interval.

“If I might change my manner of preparation after a loss, which means I solely do the perfect work I can after we lose,” added Slot on how he’ll change issues up for the journey to Milan.

“I wish to see the identical angle each single day: after a giant win, after a small win, after a draw, after a loss.”

The worldwide break acts as a mitigating issue for Liverpool’s off day. Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister had been changed with the rating nonetheless at 0-0 in opposition to Forest after their transatlantic duties in South American World Cup qualifying.

However their failure to fireplace on an off day for Mohamed Salah uncovered a reliance on the 32-year-old to nonetheless carry the goal-scoring burden that Slot has to discover a resolution for, particularly with the Egyptian into the ultimate 12 months of his contract.

“Everyone seems to be getting back from totally different locations and taking part in a special manner however nonetheless I believe even at present once we weren’t at our greatest we created possibilities and it ought to have gone higher,” stated Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.

“We’ve got to show this round and make this a type of actuality verify to be higher for the remainder of the season as a result of if you wish to obtain issues this season the distinction between the video games we performed is just too large.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)