Arne Slot has delivered a stark message to his Liverpool squad, telling them that they are not yet a great team.

The Reds can take one step closer to the title with a victory over Southampton at Anfield over the weekend, but Slot firmly believes his squad should maintain their intensity.

He believes that his side falls short of Liverpool's historically dominant teams, telling players they have yet to achieve an ability to easily win games within a matter of minutes.

Reflecting on recent matches, Slot underscored the team's grit but highlighted the need for further improvement: "Wolves was difficult, Southampton away was difficult, the League Cup was difficult, against Paris Saint-Germain it was really difficult.

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"So, yes, we're a really good team, but not a team that every week wins four or 5-0 and after half an hour, it's already 3-0."

Recounting past performances where the Reds dominated early into the game, Slot emphasized: "We've seen a team doing that in recent years a few times and I think longer ago, Liverpool also had that, after half an hour, it was already 3-0.

"We're not that team yet.

It's something we're trying to do and therefore it's something we need to improve a lot.

We only have to look at the game we played against Southampton away, a 3-2 win, a very difficult one, we were a goal down."

Slot called for his team to focus on their games rather than Arsenal’s outcomes, and he believes a peak performance almost always leads to narrow wins: "So, no, we're not looking at all at the results of Arsenal, we look at our own and we know we have to be on top of our game because if we're on top of our game, we mostly win by one-goal margins."

He emphasises the importance of not underestimating Southampton, with his side needing just seven more victories to get their hands on the title, concluding: "For me, the game against Southampton is by far the most important.

"If I make the choice to play other players that's because I think it's the best way to win the game and not because I want to rest them for the game against Paris Saint-Germain."


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