To be honest, I want to say I am neutral about Arne Slot this season. Like all parents, I want my kids (LFC) to do well, no matter who their teachers (head coach) are, even during the dark days of Roy Hodgson, Hicks & Gillett, I never wanted to see my kids fail. So after the euphoria of the 20th title and spending £435 mil in the transfer market, why was Liverpool so far away from defending the title? One must not discount the profound effects of Diogo Jota’s loss. No often a club loses one of their star player so suddenly and tragically and naturally their teammates reacts like humans - mourning his death for months on end. You would be lying if that didn’t affect their performance somehow.
And injuries, sure every club have them but to your most expensive player, just when he’s about to get fit? Let’s not forget our world-class goalkeeper was out for many-many games this season and his deputy Giorgi Mamardashvili is simply not good enough to stand between the sticks and not let in so many goals (that’s on you Slot). Mo Salah, MacAllister, Gravenbach and Gakpo didn’t get bad overnight. There’s something in the trainings and tactics that Slot seriously got wrong. That’s on him too.
Losing Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the same window is a much bigger blow to the club than anybody had initially imagined. Salah quickly lost Trent’s beautiful weighted passes and let’s not forget the goals Diaz contributed to our title-winning season. Could Slot have done better to keep them? I don’t know if that was on him. If players wanna go, they’ll go, no matter what.
Let’s be honest, we were spoiled by Jurgen Klopp’s passionate, heavy-metal football. Compare to Slot’s controlled and slow build up, it’s a downgrade for the fans. Even when we’re losing, Klopp knows how to work up the crowd and motivate his players to go through brick walls for him. Slot on the other hand, let’s just say his motivational skills is up for debate.
Are Liverpool fans an entitled lot? The minimum the fans expected was to fight for the title, maybe win a cup or two. Nothing of the sort happened this season. Have Slot done enough to justify his presence at the club for next season? I can hear a majority of fans shouting NO in the background. But that’s not up to us to decide. It’s the directors and owners' decision.
We are all but certain to have Arne Slot head-coaching Liverpool next season and the owners should rightly back him up in the transfer market or else they might as well sack him now and not waste everybody’s time. I predict, they will want to see how much improvement he can make in the first half of the season. The minimum expectation is to be in the top four and breezing through the Champions League group stage. Anything worse will be a nail on Arne’s Slot coffin. Up the Reds!
Update 30th May 2026. Arne Slot had just been sacked by Liverpool FC.
