Arne Slot comes out fighting: Embattled Liverpool boss insists he is NOT making excuses for champions' horror run of six defeats in seven and lifts lid on talks with Anfield hierarchy over dismal form

Arne Slot insists he is not making excuses for Liverpool's horror run as he prepares to navigate one of the most important weeks of his career.

Slot, who won the Premier League title last season against the odds, has lost six of his last seven games and fans have been critical of his attempts to explain those defeats.

On Friday, Slot insisted there is no excuse for recent form after his decision to make 10 changes to his starting XI backfired with Liverpool crashing out of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace.

The next eight days could define the club's season as they host Aston Villa and Real Madrid before a trip to Manchester City. And asked for a reason why form has been so bad, Slot said: 'You don't help me. (You ask) "Why, why, why?" And I give an explanation and people say I'm coming up with excuses.

'If you just look at all the press conferences I have given, I can come up with five or six reasons why we are maybe not winning as much or losing as much as we do.

'But every time I say there are never enough excuses to have a run of form as we had now. No matter if I could come up with 200 excuses, when you are Liverpool you cannot lose six out of seven.'

Slot listed fitness, injuries and a lack of Premier League experience as several reasons for the slump but added: 'I could go on with a few others also, but again I could come up with five or six other reasons.

'But you will write it down and people will say it's an excuse, which it isn't because there's never an excuse for five out of six defeats.

'Tell me if I'm wrong but I think during the week it (the reaction) was about when I said something about the squad we are having (Slot said Manchester City and Chelsea have better depth), and that could have been seen as criticising or an excuse.

'What I meant was, if (our) players are all fit we have so much quality. This club is in such a good place when you look at the quality we have for the short-term future and the long-term future.

'I've used Alex (Isak) as an example – not all of them were ready from the start to play three games in seven days. And then when you get four injuries like we have at the moment it is a struggle going into a programme like this.

'I used this to explain my line-up on Wednesday. I didn't use it as an excuse for losing against Brentford or the loss before or the loss before.'

Slot earlier insisted that he was 'completely happy' with the squad at his disposal, and insisted owners Fenway Sports Group still back him.

'For me they (the hierarchy) say similar things. I speak mainly to Richard (Hughes, sporting director) and once in a while to the others.

'They also see similar things as what I see. For me the conversations haven't changed a lot. We always talk about the game and it's always nicer to talk about the game if you have won than if you have lost.'

The Liverpool boss will be without Isak, Curtis Jones, Alisson, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni for the visit of Villa on Saturday night. But crucial midfielder Ryan Gravenberch is set to return to the squad after an ankle injury.