Contract issues not affecting Alexander-Arnold's form, says Liverpool's Arne Slot

Arne Slot on Tuesday emphasised that ongoing contract discussions involving key Liverpool players are not affecting team performance, following harsh critiques of Trent Alexander-Arnold's showing against Manchester United.

Alexander-Arnold, who has been associated with a potential Real Madrid transfer, was responsible for Lisandro Martinez's goal in the 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday, during what was a below-par performance.

The discussion about the right-back's future with the Premier League frontrunners continues as his contract situation remains unresolved.

At 26, he is now eligible to negotiate with foreign clubs for a pre-contract agreement, as his current deal concludes this season.

Reports indicate Real Madrid made an offer for the Liverpool academy graduate, which the club reportedly declined.

Other significant players, including captain Virgil van Dijk and leading goalscorer Mohamed Salah, also have contracts expiring at season's end.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's League Cup semi-final first leg against Tottenham, Slot acknowledged Alexander-Arnold's performance against United was not up to his usual standard.

"He's played so, so, so many games well for this club," he said. "Now it wasn't his best, like for some others, it wasn't the best game.

"And we just pick it up, start training today again, because these players know if you play 50, 60 games in the season that once in a while you don't have your best performance."

The Liverpool manager expressed dissatisfaction with how his players' performances are evaluated.

"If we drop points, if Mo (Salah) misses the penalty against Madrid, he's distracted by his contract situation," said Slot.

"If Trent has not his best performance, he's distracted by the contract situation.

"If they play really well, nobody tells me, 'Yeah, that's because they have a contract situation'.

"We always try to find arguments, but nine out of ten times the best argument is the quality of the teams you face, or the game plan the other team has."

Regarding Salah's enigmatic social media post on Monday featuring the three players with expiring contracts, Slot maintains direct communication with his squad.

"I talk to my players so if there is anything that worries them, then they share this with me. That has not happened until now," he said.

He concluded: "I'm not focused on social media posts or what has been said about us, because if you do that as a Liverpool manager, you have no life, because this is one of the biggest clubs in the world and every second of the day people talk about us."