Liverpool boss Arne Slot understood defender Virgil van Dijk’s “slow and predictable” assessment after their shock 2-1 defeat to Wolves on Tuesday.

Rodrigo Gomes broke the deadlock with Wolves’ first shot of the game in the 78th minute before Mohamed Salah equalised for his first Premier League goal since November, but Andre’s deflected strike in added time snatched Wolves back-to-back league wins for the first time under Rob Edwards.

Liverpool’s slow starts away from home have become a common theme this season, and they have now only scored three of their 22 away goals in the first half.

After the match, Van Dijk told TNT Sports that the champions were “slow, predictable and sloppy”, and his boss did not disagree with him.

Slot said: “So ‘slow’ or ‘predictable’ are words that I can understand [Van Dijk] uses.

“The second half was better; still not great, but better. Created more and in added time – or just before added time – I think we were twice very close from chances to score the 2-1.

“Mo was dribbling and had on the left and the right two players open, but the ball was intercepted by the defender, and the Virgil header.”

Liverpool conceded a winning goal in stoppage time for a record-breaking fifth time this season following late defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Bournemouth in January and Manchester City last month.

On top of that, Liverpool also conceded in stoppage time to Leeds and Fulham to draw earlier in the campaign which means the Reds have dropped nine points after the clock has ticked over 90 minutes.

And Slot admits it has happened far too many times this season.

“Those are chances and the one we concede is not even a chance, and that is what has happened so many times to us this season,” Slot added.

“That it happens in added time might be a coincidence maybe, although it happened so many times, but we hardly gave away a chance today. We gave away one chance but conceded two.”

Liverpool will make a return to Molineux just 72 hours after their humbling defeat to Wolves for their FA Cup fixture on Friday night and will be looking for revenge.

Van Dijk admits his side have to quickly put Tuesday’s disappointment behind them as the games are starting to come thick and fast.

He added: “Conceding goals is always frustrating. We’ve come on the back of a couple of clean sheets, defensively we’ve been very solid but it is what it is.

“We have to move quickly on because we come back here in a couple of days and we want to do well in the FA Cup.”