The Reds host Oliver Glasner’s Eagles in round four of the competition, with this being the third meeting between the clubs already this season.
Slot writes: “It goes without saying that our recent form has not reached the standards that you expect of us or that we expect of ourselves. This is, of course, a major disappointment, especially given the positive start we made to the season.
“From our perspective, there are no excuses. Yes, we are aware of the reasons and we will discuss them, but the one thing we cannot and will not do is use them as an excuse. Our responsibility is to recognise what is happening and put things right. There is no other option.
“Part of this process involves being hurt. We should be hurt by results like Saturday’s when we lost to Brentford, and we should use the feelings this creates to further fuel our motivation. Not that anyone could accuse the players of a lack of effort – if anything, the opposite is true – but how we use this effort and desire is what will make the difference.
“Tonight’s fixture gives us an opportunity to take a step forward, not just in this competition but also in our season as a whole. That it comes against an opponent that continues to prove itself to be very strong means this will be a testing cup tie but, again, this is the kind of challenge that we have to embrace.