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With Arne Slot playing down expectations 10 games into his reign at Liverpool, the head coach has pinpointed when critics can begin to judge their credentials.
Slot has taken charge of 10 games so far and his side have won nine, with the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest a source of frustration for the Dutchman.
With Liverpool currently top of the Premier League and one of seven sides to have won both of their Champions League fixtures so far, there are already suggestions that they could end the campaign with silverware.
The head coach has repeatedly downplayed those claims, however, in particular noting the calibre of opposition his side has faced so far.
That will change in the next run of fixtures, with Chelsea up next on Sunday before meetings with RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa before the November international break.
It is the start of a ridiculous schedule between now and the end of the year, and Slot believes only after those games can their performance be judged.
“If you judge your team on only a week, that would not be fair,” he told reporters on Friday.
“So, I think we have to judge us as a team after this spell of games – not three of them but six, seven or eight of them.
“Then we know better how we act and how we perform if we play tough Champions League games and tough league games.
“That is normal in everybody’s season and we know how difficult it is.
“We’ve seen that ourselves two years ago when we played Champions League, we’ve seen this last season with Manchester United.
“The only ones who showed that they can perform Champions League and in the league are City and Arsenal in the last two seasons.
“So, now it’s up to us. But I don’t think it’s fair to judge us after a week – even though if we do really well it wouldn’t be fair.
“But the best way to judge us is in four weeks.”
Slot faced accusations of belittling ‘lesser’ opponents earlier in the season when he argued that “the schedule has been ‘nice’ to us when you see the league table.”
But while he accepted that Chelsea may be their toughest test yet, he appears to have learned his lesson when it comes to underestimating teams.
“If you look at the league table, it is [our biggest challenge so far],” he explained.
“I think Manchester United is a very good team, a top club in England that has spent a lot of money to even make the team better again. Same for Chelsea in this season.
“Chelsea does really well. If you look at the league table then they are the ones that might be our toughest opponent.
“But it’s not always about the league table. Sometimes it’s about the form of the day, it’s about their game plan.
“We had some difficulty with Wolves as well, who are bottom of the league, I think. But it is a challenge, that’s for sure.”
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