Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits motivating his Premier League winners for the final two matches of the season may be an issue.
The squad had a group trip to Dubai this week – Slot himself went to Ibiza for a few days – to make the most of their time off and celebrate a title victory secured towards the end of last month.
Since confirming their position as champions Liverpool have lost at Chelsea and conceded a 2-0 half-time lead to draw with Arsenal and Slot accepts after a tough campaign it was only natural the intensity drops off.
“I think the honest answer is yes, although I cannot look into all of their heads,” he said ahead of the trip to Brighton.
“But I think it’s clear to everyone that if we would still compete for the Premier League then there would have been a few days off as well but probably we wouldn’t have gone somewhere else.
“There is a difference but if I look at the way we played the Arsenal game, I saw a team that wanted to compete from the first second until the last.”
Slot defended the decision to give the players additional time off, with them not returning to training until Friday.
He insisted it should have no bearing on Monday’s match.
“I don’t think we are the only team that if you play on Sunday and the next week is Monday, that you give them a few days extra,” he added.
“If we lose it we will get the blame for a few days off and (that) our head was somewhere else.
“If we are not able to get a result over there, for me that has nothing to do with players enjoying a few days off – but this will probably be the story.
“We think three days’ lead-up towards the game on Monday is more than enough time to be physically well-prepared.
“In the end of the season, you have to find the right balance in keeping them fit enough to play but also get them mentally fresh. That’s what we’ve tried to do.
“If you want to go (on a squad celebration) after the season then wives, girlfriends, children are like, ‘Yeah, come on, let’s go on holiday now with the family’, – which I can completely agree (with).”
After defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was booed by his own fans last weekend following the announcement he would be leaving at the end of his contract Slot called for the debate over the rights and wrongs of it to end.
“Last week people talked about it to me, then we had the reaction of our fans in the stadium, then all the pundits talked about it, the whole country talked about it,” he said.
“And I think now it’s time to draw a line under that. Let’s focus now on the fact that we’ve won the league and for us to enjoy the upcoming one-and-a-half weeks with that feeling and not talk and be distracted that much about Trent’s situation.”
