'I know Arne Slot better than most – his Liverpool behaviour tells me all I need to know'

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Liverpool might be struggling at the minute, but Arne Slot has the temperament to pull them out of their slump. That's according to Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan, who has been close to Slot for years.

Despite entering the season as swashbuckling defending champions, Liverpool's title defence is already looking precarious after five defeats in six Premier League games, the latest being a 3-0 thrashing by Manchester City .

The Reds have looked out of sorts all season, with a £450million squad overhaul in the summer leaving them short on cohesion and rhythm. Confidence has taken a hit too, as evidenced by their lacklustre display at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

But Van der Kraan insists there's no need to panic - especially as Liverpool's poor form doesn't seem to have shaken Slot's self-belief. "I am looking at him in every interview and on the touchline to try and discover if there is a change in his behaviour, character or actions... and there isn't the slightest change," he told the Daily Mail .

"He is calm, composed, absolutely not in panic mode, exactly how I know him. And I do not expect him to panic either, or to change. This guy is so confident about what he is doing. This makes me think he will turn it around. I don't have doubts."

He added: "The only managers I know with the same self-confidence are [Yohan] Cruyff and [Pep] Guardiola. I worked [as a football writer] closely with Cruyff in the 1980s and 1990s and could not believe how cool he was under any circumstances.

"It [a rough patch] happened to Cruyff with Ajax and Barca, it happened to Pep and it happened to Arne. Don't forget Arne is a massive fan of the Cruyff school. They just accept these moments, however for Arne it is going on too long of course now. That is what makes it tense. But he won't change a thing."

Slot seemed to adapt to Premier League football effortlessly. In his first season, Liverpool lost just once in the league until April, by which time the title was effectively secured.

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He delivered remarkable quality and consistency from the start, despite stepping into Jurgen Klopp's formidable shoes, spending just £10m on new players and navigating major contract sagas involving three of his star players - Mo Salah , Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold .

That makes this season's struggles all the more perplexing. Liverpool began the campaign with five straight league wins but four of those came via last-gasp goals, which often masked poor performances.

A run of four consecutive league defeats followed and although victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid offered a glimmer of hope, the heavy loss to City plunged them back into crisis.

However, if Van der Kraan's assessment is accurate, the crisis shouldn't last too much longer.

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