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Former Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp says it is "theoretically possible" he could return to the Anfield hot seat one day, but he is convinced current boss Arne Slot will guide the club through the rough patch they are going through.Klopp left Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season after leading the Merseyside club to almost every major honour during his nine-year spell, including Champions League and Premier League triumphs. The 58-year-old German was succeeded by Slot, who became the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League."I said I will never coach a different team in England so that means if (I go back), then it's Liverpool. So yeah, theoretically it's possible," Klopp said. However, he said he is content in his current role as head of global soccer for Red Bull."I love what I do now. I don't miss coaching. I do coach but it's just different, it's not players," Klopp said. "I don't miss standing in the rain for two-and-a-half or three hours. I also don't miss going to press conferences three times a week ... I don't miss being in the dressing room... I'm 58. From your perspective that might be old, but from other perspectives, it's not that old. That means I could make a decision in a few years. I don't know."Liverpool have suffered four consecutive defeats for the first time since November 2014 following Sunday's 2-1 home loss to Manchester United but Klopp was confident Slot will turn things around with players like Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike at his disposal. "Wirtz, you all will eat your words if you use the wrong words. He's an incredible talent," he added. "Ekitike, incredible player. Just the offensive players ... it's a really, really good squad. So you don't have to worry about Liverpool, they will be fine."Liverpool 'better team' despite losing streak, says Frankfurt coachEintracht Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmoeller said that Liverpool have been "the better team in every game" of their four-match losing streak, as his side prepares to take on the Reds in the Champions League Wednesday.Reigning Premier League champions Liverpool are in the midst of surprising slump given that they bolstered their squad over the close-season to the tune of nearly £450mn ($604mn) worth of new signings. Arne Slot's team lost 2-1 to arch-rivals Manchester United on Sunday, coming after defeats against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea. Liverpool had not lost four in a row for more than a decade.Speaking to reporters, Toppmoeller said that Sunday's game "could have been 4-2 for Liverpool", adding that the Reds "are not in top form, only in the sense of their results. "When you watch the games, which of course we did, you see that they seem to lack a bit of a spark at the moment," the 44-year-old said. "But in every game, they've been the better team and have had more chances at goal. We're expecting a world-class team tomorrow," Toppmoeller said, adding that the English champions would arrive in Frankfurt highly motivated. "You've got to be aware of what it does to a team to lose four in a row."Liverpool's last four-game losing streak came in November 2014 under former manager Brendan Rodgers. One of the team's issues is the dip in form suffered by star forward Mo Salah. But Toppmoeller said that the Egyptian "was probably among the top three players in the world over the past decade -- and still is."Another Red not delivering his best is Germany's £100 million midfielder Florian Wirtz, who is returning to his home country for the first time since moving to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. Toppmoeller said that Wirtz's performances were "quite decent, even if he hasn't got the numbers he had in Leverkusen."He's at a club where the spotlight is so bright and where people across the world are always watching. "I'm incredibly convinced of his quality. I hope he doesn't show that tomorrow, that's something we should worry about."

Liverpool manager Arne Slot said “results don’t lie” after a three-game losing streak as he called for defensive improvements ahead of Manchester United’s visit to Anfield Sunday.The Premier League champions won their opening seven games of the season in all competitions, but poor performances were masked by a series of late goals. Liverpool suffered defeats to Crystal Palace, Galatasaray in the Champions League and Chelsea before the international break, leaving them to fall one point behind title rivals Arsenal.After romping to the title last season, Liverpool splashed out nearly £450mn ($604mn) on new signings, paying club-record fees for Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, neither of whom have yet scored a Premier League goal.At the other end of the pitch, Slot’s men have conceded two or more goals in four of their seven Premier League games. “We’ve played 10, won seven and lost three. The three loses were by close margins,” Slot said at his pre-match press conference. “But as I keep saying, we should not be dependent on such margins. Results don’t lie – if you lose three in a row then you have to do better. We are aware of that and we have to react.”Mohamed Salah’s sensational form propelled Liverpool to the title last season, but the 33-year-old Egyptian has so far struggled to adjust to the changes made to the side during the transfer window. Slot pinpointed a lack of game-changing moments from his star-studded forward line and problems at set-pieces.“We haven’t created as many chances as last season and there’s a reason for that – the playing style of the opponent, and we have to find answers to that,” he said. “The first answer is not to concede as many goals as we did. If a team scores one or two goals then we need three goals. In the first half of last season we mainly got these goals from a special moment from one of our front three. The second half (of the season) we needed set pieces against a low block. This season we haven’t had those special moments and we haven’t scored from set pieces. It’s clear that conceding four goals from set pieces is far too much for a team that wants to compete.”Goalkeeper Alisson Becker remains out with a hamstring injury, but there was better injury news for Liverpool as Ryan Gravenberch is fit to face United despite coming off injured for the Netherlands during the international break.Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said the support of co-owner Jim Ratcliffe will mean little if he fails to turn around the club’s fortunes. In an interview last week, British billionaire Ratcliffe said Amorim has to “demonstrate he is a great coach over three years”.Amorim is approaching a year in the Old Trafford hotseat and is yet to win back-to-back Premier League games. Doing so away to Liverpool at Anfield tomorrow would be a major step in the right direction and the Portuguese knows he will be under intense pressure until results improve.“You know, I know and Jim knows that football is not like that,” Amorim said at his pre-match press conference, referring to Ratcliffe’s timescale. “The most important thing is the next game.”United ended the season 15th in the Premier League last term – their lowest finish for 51 years – and squandered a chance to qualify for the Champions League when they lost the Europa League final to Tottenham. They have fared little better this season, sitting 10th in the Premier League after losing three of their first seven league games and crashing to a shock League Cup defeat at fourth-tier Grimsby.Yet Amorim has so far retained the support of Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox. “First of all, I can feel it. It’s not just that thing that people talk, I feel it every day. Sometimes the pressure that I put on the team, on myself, is so much bigger than them,” said Amorim. “I know that it’s going to take a while but I don’t want to think like that. I said that last year. I think it also helps our fans to understand that the leadership understands that it’s going to take a while. But, at the same moment, I don’t like that because it will give a feeling that we have time to work things out. I don’t want that feeling here in our club. It’s good to feel the support but we need to prove in football, and especially in big clubs, that in every weekend we are ready to win games.”A 2-0 victory over Sunderland before the international break eased the scrutiny on Amorim’s position.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot blasted Hugo Ekitike for a stupid sending-off after tapping home a winner against Southampton in the League Cup on Tuesday and then removing his shirt in celebration. The Frenchman, who replaced record signing Alexander Isak at half-time, had been booked already for kicking the ball away in frustration and the second yellow five minutes from time left Liverpool defending a 2-1 third-round lead with 10 men.Liverpool captain Andy Robertson told said it was a stupid thing to do when on a yellow card and Slot doubled down afterwards. “I think it’s also stupid if you haven’t had a yellow card yet,” he said.“Maybe I’m a bit old-fashioned, maybe a bit old school, but I did score a few goals – not at this level – as well and if I maybe outplay three players, which I never did, and then hit it in the top corner, then maybe you can say ‘oh, this is all about me.’“But if I had to score a goal like he did tonight, I would have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa and would say ‘It’s all about you, Federico. Great assist, great run and I didn’t have to do a lot’. It was stupid, not smart in every sense... he’s now suspended for Saturday and that is far from ideal.”Ekitike later apologised on Instagram: “The emotion got the better of me tonight,” he said. “My apologies to all the Red family...”League leaders Liverpool, with a 100% record so far this season, have a tricky away trip to unbeaten Crystal Palace next in the league. Slot fielded a completely changed starting lineup on Tuesday from the side that played Everton on Saturday, with Isak starting and scoring his first goal for the club.“It wasn’t our best performance, which probably has a lot to do with players that haven’t played for a long time or for the first time,” he said. The manager said Isak would get increasing game time, with Liverpool trying to build him up faster than usual, but did not expect him to be fully up to speed until after the next international break.Club World Cup champions Chelsea suffered an early scare at third tier Lincoln City but came back from a goal down at half-time to win 2-1 with teenager Tyrique George equalising in the 48th and providing the assist for Facundo Buonanotte’s 50th-minute winner.League One (third tier) Cardiff City provided the upset of the eight games on the programme by beating top flight Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor. Premier League bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers won their top flight clash 2-0 against Everton, who had James Garner hit the bar with a second-half free kick and Jack Grealish coming off the bench.Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gomez scored four, including a 24-minute first-half hat-trick, as Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion thumped third tier Barnsley 6-0 at Oakwell to reach the fourth round for the fifth time in six seasons. Second tier Wrexham gave their Hollywood owners another home night to savour by beating Reading 2-0, with Nathan Broadhead scoring both – his first for the Welsh side who go through to the fourth round for the first time since 1977.Premier League Fulham beat fourth tier visitors Cambridge United 1-0 at Craven Cottage with Emile Smith Rowe scoring the 66th-minute winner. Championship side Swansea City and fourth tier giantkillers Grimsby Town are already through to the fourth round along with Premier League Brentford and Crystal Palace.