Arne Slot has called for Liverpool fans to give his side a lift against Bournemouth after feeling his players didn’t give them enough reason to cheer last weekend.
The Reds will be aiming to return to winning ways in the Premier League later today after suffering a surprise defeat at home to Nottingham Forest last weekend – Slot’s first loss since taking charge in the summer.
Liverpool bounced back from that defeat by beating AC Milan 3-1 in their opening Champions League encounter on Tuesday, and will be aiming to carry that form into today’s game.
Slot will hope his side can get the Anfield crowd on side early, with the atmosphere against Forest facing some criticism last weekend. The Liverpool boss though feels his side should take responsibility for any perceived lack of enthusiasm from supporters.
"My only protestation was about how we played," Slot said in pre-match press conference on Friday. "We as a team have to be aware that fans need something to get behind the team and I don't think we did that enough.
"If we don't show up enough maybe that can help us if it looks like it might not be our day, but I like to look at ourselves - if we do better than the fans will enjoy what they see. It starts with us doing better tomorrow. But maybe the fans can give us an extra push."
It’s far from the first time the Anfield crowd has been urged to raise its levels. Jurgen Klopp was left frustrated by the atmosphere on a few occasions, including when he was seen remonstrating with supporters during a Carabao Cup clash against West Ham last season.
“I thought in the first half when the boys played really exceptionally, I was not overly happy with the atmosphere behind me,” Klopp explained.
“I asked people what do they want? We changed a lot of things and we dominated West Ham like crazy and missed chances.
“If I was in the stands I would be on my toes, 1,000 per cent. I don’t know, if the Man United game was that bad that we have to say sorry we didn’t smash them?”
Liverpool.com says: The Anfield crowd certainly needs to lift things sometimes, although you can absolutely understand why last weekend’s performance might have left them feeling frustrated. Slot knows that himself, hence why he’s putting the blame solely on his side.
Even if he wasn’t happy with the atmosphere, he hasn’t built up the same amount of credit that Klopp had which enabled the German to have a bit more of a go at the fans, and to be fair he got the desired response against Arsenal a few days later. Slot has to stay a bit more diplomatic for the time being.
