Just what is going wrong with Liverpool, is Arne Slot the right man to fix what appears broken and what happens if he’s not?…
SO, WHERE DO we go from here?
Do we remain as frozen as Arne Slot was in the dugout on Wednesday night as PSV Eindhoven ran riot?
Do we become part of the cyclical and often sickly reactionary nature of sacking managers in football?
When Leicester City sacked Claudio Ranieri in 2016, nine months after winning the Premier League, it was labelled as ‘unforgivable’ in some quarters, given the cut-throat lack of context applied to their recent, unprecedented success.
But Leicester isn’t Liverpool, and football clubs are linear beasts. They exist only in their current form.
With that, Liverpool have arrived at a junction. The past two months haven’t been good enough. This club cannot be beaten by a 10-1 aggregate score over three games by anyone, regardless of the situation they’re in.
You might now want Slot gone and think the veil has slipped. You might adopt such easy reaching falsities as last year being ‘Jürgen Klopp’s team’ which is such a ridiculous notion that it doesn’t warrant countering.
I think there’s five questions to be answered here. I’ll have a go at them for the purpose of this exercise:
- What Is Actually Going Wrong?
They aren’t winning duels. Honestly, it’s driven me mad since about September. Partly this is because they look leggy and second to things in key areas.
Players like Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister and Alexander Isak have all been culprits in this sense.
The other obvious thing is conceding first. They haven’t won a Premier League game when they’ve done so all season. They’ve won every game they’ve scored first in.
Right now, every time they go behind the confidence, hearts and minds crumble. They become so fragile they wilt on the pitch.
Liverpool have to stop fighting the scoreboard and become more combative. What we’ve done since City has been passive, meek and pathetic.
- Who Is Actually To Blame?
Slot carries a lot of this, rightly. He doesn’t know who his best fullbacks are and has used players like Milos Kerkez in a manner which hinders player and team.
His substitution template this season is also now reduced to accommodating the desperate 3-3-4 formation when chasing a game.
It looks messy and teams are now able to prepare for it, knowing they’re likely to be on top.
But Slot absolutely does not sign players. He will green light them all, but Richard Hughes, Michael Edwards and FSG all agreed on Liverpool’s summer strategy and before a ball was kicked there was nobody saying the window was anything under eight-out-of-ten.
Liverpool left themselves a winger and centre-back short and will need to address that urgently in January.
- Is Slot Able To Get Them Out Of This?
Although my confidence is waning, I think Liverpool have to stick together and find a way to play games of football on their terms again.
This will have to be the smallest of building blocks, but they can find a way out through hard work, team selection and the erosion of stupid individual mistakes alone.
I honestly don’t think it goes much beyond that. Confidence is so fragile and needs to be built slowly. Trust in each other has to be formed through results getting better.
- What Happens If You Sack Him?
We know Liverpool operate in the medium-to-long term with transfers and managerial hires. They do not want short-term fixes. It’s not in line with the business model.
So, if Liverpool’s list for coaches has Xabi Alonso at the top, for example, what are they doing until they can get Alonso?
One option would be to keep Slot around, if they think he can salvage anything from the wreck of 2025/26.
If they decide to sack Slot now, and they can’t get their first or second choice target, they are in a sticky spot.
An end of season interim list reads worse than the rollcall of peerages handed out during Boris Johnson’s time as Prime Minister.
You might think it would be easy to prise Andoli Iraola out of Bournemouth, for example, but changing coaches and staff and expecting a new playing style and ethos to be easily implemented when you have no training time isn’t easy.
Liverpool need confidence. If the suits think that only happens with a new voice at managerial level then so be it.
- What Happens Now?
Slot has to find a way to settle on a starting XI that everyone believes in.
I think he should be aiming towards getting Joe Gomez in at right-back, next to Konate, and stabilizing that area of the pitch. Take Mac Allister out and rotate between Dominik Szobozslai, Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch in midfield. The risky bet would be on whether Florian Wirtz and Isak can start finding form and fitness on the team’s watch.
They should go all out for Marc Guehi and a right-footed left winger in January.
The past week has plunged Liverpool into shock and disbelief. It isn’t good enough on the pitch, Slot knows this. He looks heavy-eyed with burden but he’s never tried to bullshit anyone.
He’s never been Klopp, and it’s worth remembering how much everyone was citing this as a positive last season.
He was worthy of being Liverpool coach in everyone’s eyes only two months ago. He’s a Premier League winner.
I know, I know, it’s not good enough. But I’m going to bat for him until something in me changes.
Like all of us, I just want this to stop.
