Liverpool boss Arne Slot has admitted he can't get fans back onside this season after boos at Anfield on Saturday, but is confident he will win back trust from supporters after the summer transfer window.
Slot's side were booed off after an out-of-form Chelsea came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw. Liverpool had taken the lead after just six minutes through Ryan Gravenberch, the away side began to dominate the game following Enzo Fernandez's equaliser.
In an uninspiring display, Liverpool generated an xG of 0.51, their lowest in a Premier League home game since March 2021. Liverpool have also now dropped nine points from winning positions at Anfield this season, their most at home since 2015-16 (14).
After winning the league in his first season at the club last campaign, a frustrating season has led to some Liverpool fans questioning Slot's position, especially after a record £446.5m spend in last summer's transfer window.
However, asked whether he was confident he could win back disgruntled supporters, Slot suggested a positive summer window would shift the mood.
"Yeah," Slot said.
"Not this season, by the way. This season, they will have their opinion, and they will not change. But if we can have the summer that we are planning to have, then I'm 100 per cent convinced that we will be a different team next season than we are now.
"Different in terms of results, different in how things look. But it's not always that simple, because sometimes you know what you have to do, but it's not always possible to also get exactly what you want. But for us, for me, it's really clear what we are lacking this season.
"And we are trying, because one of the things we are lacking is players who are fit. But the players that we have available now, I think, again, like last week, showed in the second half that they want to give everything and try to push.
"But it was not enough last week, and it wasn't enough this week to find that goal, which we maybe deserved if you looked at where the game was played.
"Because for me, the game was mainly played in their half, and that is what we have seen a lot of times this season. But we have also seen a lot of times this season that being the dominant team doesn't lead to chance after chance after chance."
Slot's decision to substitute 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha was also met with boos from the Anfield crowd. Speaking to TNT Sports, the Liverpool boss said he was forced into the decision as Ngumoha felt a "problem in his muscles".
Asked to clarify if Ngumoha was injured, Slot told press after the game:
"He had a cramp perhaps three minutes before that, and then I had contact with him, and he said that it wasn't an option [to continue].
"It makes complete sense if you take a player off who is playing well, an assist, that people don't expect you to take that player off, which wasn't my intention to do.
"He's a good player, but I don't think he's at the level yet to play at 60 or 50 per cent to then make a difference. But maybe the fans have a different opinion. They think that he would have been able to play at this level at 50 per cent or 60 or whatever percentage, but not being fit enough anymore to sprint and to make your actions.
"So, yeah, if you don't know that and you feel like, why did you take him off? Then I understand that reaction. I knew at the moment his number went up that that would have been the reaction. But that's not a reason not to do it and keep a player within the team who tells me he cannot continue.
"And after the game, I think it also makes sense because I don't think this club should be happy with a 1-1 result against Chelsea. We always aim for a win, and then we don't win. Then we're disappointed, and especially in a season where we haven't won a lot or not as much as people expect us to do. It's just building up frustration, and that came out probably after half-time."
Also reacting to the boos, Gravenberch urged Liverpool fans to support the side instead of booing.
"We need them behind us," Gravenberch told TNT Sports.
"I think what they do is - OK, we don't win, but I think we don't really deserve this. I think fans have to be behind us like 90 minutes, because when I think it was the second half, when they went behind us, we pressed them really, so we need it, so hopefully the next few games they won't do the same."
Josh1: "Slot cannot stay next season, that was slow and boring to watch, no urgency to get forward from defensive corners, everyone just walking out of the box. Need a more attack-minded manager at the club."
Paul: "The fans are right to boo this team and manager, they've been awful all season. Slot is out of his depth and needs to go and he can take the majority of the team with him."
Mattbrown97: "So dull to watch, so much talent on the pitch not being utilised with Slot's awful style. He simply has to go. We don't go at teams and take the game to them anymore. Trust us to bring Chelsea's pointless run to an end."
Stephen: "Getting booed off and it was a draw and not a defeat says it all. Liverpool fans have had enough it's time for FSG to act."
Shanepancho778: "If Slot was at any other club putting in performances like that, making poor tactical decisions, awful substitutions and having fans boo the team off he would surely be gone. 41 years a LFC fan and bar the Hodgson era this is the worst I've known it."
