Arne Slot has no doubt Liverpool will be back on track after this season's setbacks
Liverpool are on the verge of qualifying for next season's Champions League; Reds need a point at home to Brentford in Sunday's final game of the Premier League season to be guaranteed a top-five finish; watch Liverpool vs Brentford on Sky Sports+ from 3pm on Sunday; kick-off 4pm
Friday 22 May 2026 21:31, UK
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has promised his side will return to winning ways next season after a difficult defence to their Premier League title this campaign.
The Reds have already been beaten 12 times in the league so far this season, with Sunday's final game against Brentford to come, live on Sky Sports. It is their most defeats in a Premier League campaign in more than a decade.
Injuries to key players have badly hindered Liverpool, while the season also started under a cloud following the tragic death of Diogo Jota in a car crash last summer.
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Slot, however, is adamant things will be different following another dip into the transfer market this summer and better luck on the injury front next season.
"We will evolve as a team because we went through a transition already last summer and these players are now longer in," said Slot in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
"That's not only about them. It's also for the ones that we're already in, have now already one year of experience with playing together with these new players. So that will naturally mean that they evolve.
"Especially if I take into account how many minutes our new players have missed. So, if that does not happen next season, that will automatically evolve us straight away. And I think you don't even have to look that far into other teams in the Premier League.
"And I particularly mean one team that were maybe struggling a bit like us during the first half of the season, but added two players in the second half of the season. I don't even know if they've lost a game, maybe only in the Champions League. So, it can have a big impact.
"That's not only about those two, but sometimes the players can be a missing link in what is missing. But it should not all be about the one or two players we might bring in. It's also definitely about evolving the ones we brought in last season and the ones we already have longer.
"And I think there's a lot to be won for us to win in things we can improve compared to this season. And one of the things, of course, is having players available. But the second thing, we have to do better defensively and offensively.
"And hopefully signing one or two players can even accelerate that evolvement."
Looking back at this season, though, Slot knows his side just have not been good enough at both ends, but particularly at the back where they have conceded a whopping 52 goals - the most ever in a 38-game Premier League campaign.
"Now, first of all, win a bit more," he said when asked what he would do differently this season.
"We've conceded far too many goals because the team that has won the league this season has shown how important it is to play off the ball, so when you're not in possession.
"They've [Arsenal] hardly conceded a goal and that has become more and more important because maybe the teams that won it the years before were a bit more focused on attack and scoring goals, but Arsenal have shown how important it is not to concede this season."
As for Slot himself, he believes he will now be a better manager going forward as a result of this season's setbacks, the first time the Dutchman has experienced failure in his career so far.
"It's the first year since I'm a manager that we don't in the end of the season play for anything which means we cannot win anything anymore because although it's very important for us to qualify for the Champions League, it doesn't feel as if you win something," he added.
"So that means it's the first season that I've experienced a lot of setbacks and disappointments and what I've learned is that I can also be a manager who thinks or maybe not going constantly in the right direction.
"So I've been lucky enough to only experience positive, positive, positive and then the job is much easier, I can tell you, than in a season like this.
"But I think I've learned from myself that I can handle that situation. I haven't lost myself, not in general but also not in moments. I think I've been mainly the same person as I was when things went really well and you never know how you're going to react on that.
"But I know now that I can also be a manager if things are not going as perfectly as I wanted to."
Watch Mo Salah and Andy Robertson's final Liverpool game against Brentford on Sky Sports+ from 3pm on Sunday; kick-off 4pm
