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The Dutch manager has announced that the team leadership share his views regarding the team's slump and he refuses to compromise their forward-thinking philosophy in search of a solution. The head coach acknowledged that six losses in seven matches was below standard ahead of the weekend fixture with Villa.

Growing Expectations Throughout Difficult Period

The manager acknowledged the scrutiny was intense before his rotated squad were eliminated from the Carabao Cup against the London club. However, he maintained that this pressure to arrest the slide is not coming from the Anfield hierarchy or football administration following a significant spending of approximately £450 million.

"Our views align," commented the manager, whose squad will encounter Los Blancos in the Champions League and travel to Pep Guardiola's side in the Premier League.

Player Depth Continues Unchallenged

Liverpool's manager thinks his team "have an unbelievable squad if they are all fit and all ready for the schedule ahead". He noted that the recent signings in footballers like the attacking midfielder and Alexander Isak, who is probably unavailable again against Villa through injury, had left the club "in an excellent position for the near future and the long-term future".

Gelling Difficulties

When pressed on why his team were taking so long to gel, he answered: "That's not particularly helpful. 'What are the reasons?' I give an explanation and people say I'm coming up with excuses. I can list multiple factors why we are not winning as much or losing as much as we do but, as I say every time, there are inadequate reasons to have a run of form as we had now."

• Even if I could come up with multiple factors
• When you are Liverpool you should not suffer defeats
• Unfortunately six losses from seven matches

Defensive Numbers

Only Burnley (twenty-one) have allowed more significant openings from open play this season than the Merseysiders (19). The first-place team, the North London club, have faced two. Yet Liverpool's coach rejects the team has been overly exposed and maintains there is no reason to abandon offensive philosophy for a cautious system after 10 games without a goalless performance.

"In my view we're not conceding a lot of chances so I don't see a reason to change our playing style completely but we need to do better in not conceding goals," he declared.

Specific Instances

"Versus the Red Devils, how many openings did we give up? When playing Frankfurt when we were 3-1 up, we scarcely gave up a shot on target. In each fixture we have competed in we haven't given up a lot of chances. Definitely not. We do concede a bit more than the prior term but that stems from us being 1-0 down so you take a bit more risk. But typically I don't believe that our challenge is that we give up too many openings. Our problem is we are unable to finish the chances we create."