These are abnormal times at Anfield and so Arne Slot reached for a semblance of normality. A manager who can be at his most rational after defeats said it was normal that, in such circumstances, there would be talk about his position.
Nine weeks ago, there were none, and for obvious reasons. Liverpool had a five-point lead at the Premier League summit. Slot had won the title in his maiden season. He seemed the seamless successor, the Bob Paisley to Jurgen Klopp’s Bill Shankly. Now there are other flashbacks to Liverpool’s past: by losing three successive matches by at least three goals, Slot has done something no one accomplished since the long-forgotten Don Welsh in the relegation season of 1953-54.
