Arne Slot

[RedReet]

The argument that Slot simply leached off Klopp (or Lijnders, since he was effectively the head coach for past couple of years) overlooks all the significant changes and input that Slot made last season.

He swopped Endo out for Gravenberch as a starter while also changing the latter’s role.

Relieved Salah of his previous amount of off the ball work to help enable his league winning attacking output.

Reined in the Trent midfield inverting thing, which gave the rest of the defence less ground to cover and hugely benefited Konate to hit the heights he reached last season.

Also the amount of times Slot made changes in game to turn the tide and get the result.

How can any of these things be put down to simply riding on the coattails of the previous coaching set up?

Worth noting that those who’ve followed Slot since his Eredivisie days don’t recognise him, his decision making, or whatever he’s attempting tactically this season.

Slot’s performance as head coach has dropped off catastrophically this season, no two ways about it. But in the same way that we don’t reevaluate the performance and contribution of the likes of Salah and Mac Allister last season on account of how bad they’ve been this season. It doesn’t make sense to do so for the head coach either.

[baitman]

Sloth apparently unaware that the fans are pissed off, seems surprised.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cze0e507l8ro

[Deano]

Sloth apparently unaware that the fans are pissed off, seems surprised.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/cze0e507l8ro

Thats just Dutch arrogance, of course he knows

[baitman]

Thats just Dutch arrogance, of course he knows

Sounds like hes trying to blame the fans for not unconditionally supporting the manager...

"People have told me when I came here that this club is different than other clubs, they will support the manager for such, such, such a long time.

"But if you are supposing something, then I must have done a lot of things wrong and that's never a nice feeling to have, because being in the club that's always so supportive for the manager, in good and bad times, then if they are not happy with me, then apparently I've done so many things wrong, and that's never a nice feeling to have."

[Doc_Piptorious]

Do not think it is arrogance that he shows in press conferences. Think it is a mix of being pretty poor dealing with the media in his second language and trying to gloss over failings that he is maybe overly conscious about.


Said it before but think he needed more media training/help from day one when it comes to dealing with the media in English. Probably too late in the day for that now as now anything he says will be pounced upon and then he will go and make it worse by elaborating further the next time a journo asks the same question.

Needs to keep it simple more often when in front of journos and just give them short cliched answers that gives no soundbytes.

Basically he needs to turn the pressers into snoozes fests like our games are.

[Irishnev]

The argument that Slot simply leached off Klopp (or Lijnders, since he was effectively the head coach for past couple of years) overlooks all the significant changes and input that Slot made last season.

He swopped Endo out for Gravenberch as a starter while also changing the latter’s role.

Relieved Salah of his previous amount of off the ball work to help enable his league winning attacking output.

Reined in the Trent midfield inverting thing, which gave the rest of the defence less ground to cover and hugely benefited Konate to hit the heights he reached last season.

Also the amount of times Slot made changes in game to turn the tide and get the result.

How can any of these things be put down to simply riding on the coattails of the previous coaching set up?

Worth noting that those who’ve followed Slot since his Eredivisie days don’t recognise him, his decision making, or whatever he’s attempting tactically this season.

Slot’s performance as head coach has dropped off catastrophically this season, no two ways about it. But in the same way that we don’t reevaluate the performance and contribution of the likes of Salah and Mac Allister last season on account of how bad they’ve been this season. It doesn’t make sense to do so for the head coach either.

I agree with most of this, it’s disingenuous to disregard the impact Slot had on our title run, he was certainly a big factor and it’s crazy how much his in game tactical ability has fallen off a cliff.

However, I would say that 70% of thd credit goes to Salah for having arguably the greatest individual season in PL history.

[Charly]

However, I would say that 70% of thd credit goes to Salah for having arguably the greatest individual season in PL history.

His numbers tell one story, but his performaces were nowhere near his peak. His all round play had dropped off massively, but the team was structured around him and got the most out of him, despite his inability to run past players. Id say his first season with us was far superior. He also didnt pad his stats with penalty kicks either.

Credit to both though. Slot played a tactical masterstroke. Also, playing Grav as a proper DM. Shame he cant reproduce that this season.

[peterbread]

Do not think it is arrogance that he shows in press conferences. Think it is a mix of being pretty poor dealing with the media in his second language and trying to gloss over failings that he is maybe overly conscious about.


Said it before but think he needed more media training/help from day one when it comes to dealing with the media in English. Probably too late in the day for that now as now anything he says will be pounced upon and then he will go and make it worse by elaborating further the next time a journo asks the same question.

Needs to keep it simple more often when in front of journos and just give them short cliched answers that gives no soundbytes.

Basically he needs to turn the pressers into snoozes fests like our games are.

He does seem to say too much at times. I don’t know if it’s just the way he is or the language and trying to get it right. It was nice at the start as he went into a lot of detail about his tactics like when we beat the mancs at old Trafford last season. But when it’s not going well anything he says that’s not necessarily what you want to hear will be pounced upon whether he deserves it or not.

It was a big jump from where he was at to Liverpool and the spotlight is massive. Add in the lack of any difficult periods in his career so far and no family with him. If he stays next season maybe they could look at bringing in a bit more of an experienced assistant to help him out.

I wonder how much he’s enjoying it with how he talks about the football in England sometimes.

The lack of contract talk is the big issue for me. He won’t be happy with no new deal and the uncertainty of having a manager with only one season left won’t help with retention and recruitment. Add in the rumours of Hughes going. Who knows what next season will bring but let’s hope it’s better than this one.

[Buzzo]

His numbers tell one story, but his performaces were nowhere near his peak. His all round play had dropped off massively, but the team was structured around him and got the most out of him, despite his inability to run past players. Id say his first season with us was far superior. He also didnt pad his stats with penalty kicks either.

Credit to both though. Slot played a tactical masterstroke. Also, playing Grav as a proper DM. Shame he cant reproduce that this season.

Nah last season was insane.

Winning the league with 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 games (and he finished the season quietly) is absolutely outstanding. It is defining. Delivering time and time again in tight games as Salah did time after time. He was clicking record levels of games with both goals and assists in the 90. Literally who gives a **** what is going on outside of that.

You take that away from us or even give us 76% of that and we don’t win the league. Salah was excellent last season. The game is about providing goals and assists and he over delivered.

The prevailing narrative that he’s been declining has been launched on here about 5 years ago when Salah was still getting 18-20 league goals per season and now that it’s sidddenly correct everyone is rewriting history.

I do concede that Slot did have impact, however he did benefit from a hunger within the squad to deliver a title having come very close a few years in a row.

The drop off this season is bizarre as it seems to be a perfect storm of numerous factors.

[Harv]

Yeah just watching that makes for grim viewing.

Although there are issues with player performance and recruitment it’s hard to not see that the main issue is down to motivation, tactics and coaching.

It also again points to a pick of onfield leadership (think Hendo and Milner).

Writing was on the wall when they all took off for a holiday when they won the league with games to spare and packed it in for the rest of the season.

Not a chance Klopp, Fergie, Mourinho, Rafa, Ancellotti etc etc would let their players do that. Shows a complete lack of seriousness and competitiveness.

Slots instilled a weak mindset in this group in 6mths

The longer he's been here the worse we're getting.

I'd genuinely love to know what Klopp thinks watching this ****.

[Exiled_red]

Nah last season was insane.

Winning the league with 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 games (and he finished the season quietly) is absolutely outstanding. It is defining. Delivering time and time again in tight games as Salah did time after time. He was clicking record levels of games with both goals and assists in the 90. Literally who gives a **** what is going on outside of that.

You take that away from us or even give us 76% of that and we don’t win the league. Salah was excellent last season. The game is about providing goals and assists and he over delivered.

The prevailing narrative that he’s been declining has been launched on here about 5 years ago when Salah was still getting 18-20 league goals per season and now that it’s sidddenly correct everyone is rewriting history.

I do concede that Slot did have impact, however he did benefit from a hunger within the squad to deliver a title having come very close a few years in a row.

The drop off this season is bizarre as it seems to be a perfect storm of numerous factors.

I don't get what people are saying stats wise he put together the most G/A in PL history only a handful of players have even come close to that. You might think he has had seasons where he has looked better, but that was his most effective. Not saying the title win was solely down to him, but replace him in the side with a player who gets average numbers and we don't come close. He definately was the difference.

His form has dropped off massively this year but he won us the title last year

On Slot's role, I did say that I was concerned at the message it sent particularly to new players that Salah barely had to defend had on the dynamic. I think the players who were around last season realised that Mo got them a medal through that type of approach, but the new guys could look around and think if he doesn't work, why should I? And I think Slot inadvertently made a rod for his own back with that.

[Buzzo]

Writing was on the wall when they all took off for a holiday when they won the league with games to spare and packed it in for the rest of the season.

Not a chance Klopp, Fergie, Mourinho, Rafa, Ancellotti etc etc would let their players do that. Shows a complete lack of seriousness and competitiveness.

Slots instilled a weak mindset in this group in 6mths

The longer he's been here the worse we're getting.

I'd genuinely love to know what Klopp thinks watching this ****.

Yeah that was weird for me also. Arne at Ibiza… I’ve definitely not seen that sort of thing before. You’ve won the league but you keep the foot to the floor until the end of the season.

[Exiled_red]

Yeah that was weird for me also. Arne at Ibiza… I’ve definitely not seen that sort of thing before. You’ve won the league but you keep the foot to the floor until the end of the season.

[kingfunk]

Liverpool may end up getting rid of Slot purely because they cannot think of what else to do

Jonathan Liew

Arne Slot has gone from being hailed as one of the best coaches in the world to appearing likely to be sacked by Liverpool in less than a year. Liverpool may end up getting rid of Slot purely because they cannot think of what else to do


The head coach is not responsible for many of the problems at Anfield but he is the most obvious target for those seeking reasons for the team’s decline

It was the coffee bar at the training ground, installed by the Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive, Michael Edwards, after he got the idea from visiting Roma. It was Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, added to the post-match playlist by Alisson and which could be heard booming out of the Liverpool dressing room after victories. It was the video analysis. It was the data. It was the pre-season fitness tests. It was the close collaboration between the football and sports science departments. It was everything that changed from the Jürgen Klopp era. It was everything that stayed the same from the Jürgen Klopp era.

Victory brings a dazzling clarity. Particularly a victory as resounding as Liverpool’s unexpected 10-point romp to the Premier League title last season. It turns the cogs, powers the houses, confers a sunlit aura of genius on everyone involved. So with a certain uncharitable hindsight, it is instructive to go back to late April 2025 and read about how everyone thought Liverpool had done it. And why everyone – wrongly – thought they were going to do it again.

It was the AI-driven load management model devised by Conall Murtagh, the head of physical performance. It was the unfettered happiness of Mohamed Salah, the accidental masterstroke of Ryan Gravenberch as a linchpin midfielder. And, of course, it was the cerebral genius of Arne Slot, this enlightened son of the Dutch soil with the pate of a newborn baby and the manner of your favourite teacher, and who around 11 months ago was being talked about very seriously as one of the best coaches in the world.


Alas, it appears Slot now has to go. Sorry, that’s just how it works. The performances have simply been too unsatisfying, the pace of play too slow, the vibes too stale. Against Tottenham on Sunday the final whistle was greeted with boos from the Liverpool fans who had not already left. The mood has gone from skittish to mutinous. Jamie Carragher has felt things and, like Walter Cronkite during the Vietnam war, if you’ve lost Carragher then you’ve lost Middle Liverpool.

Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League, still in the Champions League, and have accumulated more league points since the start of last season than anybody bar Arsenal. On the other hand, Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League, on the verge of elimination from the Champions League, and on pace to drop 22 points from last season. How much of this is on Slot? What even is it in the first place? What can be fixed and salvaged and what demands to be changed?

The short answer – spoiler alert – is that nobody really knows. Nobody can judge the extent to which Slot is responsible for the decline of Salah or Alexis Mac Allister, for Liverpool’s skittish summer transfer business, for the injuries, for the inability to convert a four-on-two breakaway or clear a simple long ball. We can certainly say he was not responsible for the death of Diogo Jota and the emotional turmoil that followed, but we have no real way of knowing whether it had any material effect on results.


One of the problems facing Arne Slot (right) is how to handle Mohamed Salah when the Egypt forward appears to be in decline. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters
But there does seem to be a basic assumption that the job he inherited in 2024 – improving an unbalanced squad while evolving its style in a high-pressure environment with an impatient fanbase – and the job he now has in 2026, improving an unbalanced squad while evolving its style in a high-pressure environment with an impatient fanbase, are basically two entirely separate functions, as different as IT support and cosmetic dentistry. In its cruder forms it finds voice in the view that last season was basically “Klopp’s title” with “Klopp’s team”.

And, really, the Slot discourse cuts to the paradox of modern coaching. The lines of authority are diffuse. Recruitment is done by committee. The broader strategy is decided upstairs. Tactics are basically an unsatisfactory palimpsest of multiple factors: what the last guy did, what the players feel comfortable doing, what part of a footballing vision can realistically be conveyed to limbs on a pitch. The coach is basically a flavour, an aroma, an ambience, and when a team that won the league by a wide margin last season looks so far off the pace next time round, perhaps it is no wonder people will reverse-engineer the easiest route back to salvation.

Naturally, everyone will have their own pet theory for Liverpool’s regression. The failure to reinforce in midfield or at centre-back. The turbulence of the summer. Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back. The lack of leaders. There have been weird selections and questionable substitutions. Perhaps it is Slot’s misfortune that his doctrine of extreme control and elite pressing happened to collide with the Premier League’s 17th-century village football era; long throws and long balls being hurled into the penalty area like giant scotch eggs fired from a trebuchet. But what we have no real way of knowing is how much of this is noise, snap reactions to short-term disappointment.


Dominik Szoboszlai (right) has looked uncomfortable when deployed at full-back and this has been reflected in Liverpool’s performances. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
In a way the modern big-club coach takes the job with the full awareness that they are basically a narrative device, a reset button to press when things get sticky, a meat sacrifice that allows everyone else to indulge the illusion of renewal. You can’t shift the owners and you can’t sell an entire playing squad. So the purpose of the manager is essentially to be fired: to be responsible for the things they’re not really responsible for, to be immediately disposable, to provide the illusion of a simple solution where none exists.

Indeed, to take the most cynical view, you could argue that Slot has already served his purpose. The post-Klopp cliff-edge was spectacularly avoided. Liverpool fans are in various shades of disgruntlement, for reasons often only tangentially related to the 22 guys they’re watching on the grass. A few Liverpool-supporting friends have mentioned the beefed-up security checks at Anfield, generating long queues outside the ground and perhaps even contributing to so many of this season’s slow starts.

Slot is not responsible for this, either. But he will be made to carry the can nonetheless, the price for being the simplest target in an incredibly complex sport. It isn’t the security checks, any more than it was the coffee bar or the data or the Dire Straits. But in an age of overanalysis and short-term solutions, he will have to go anyway, largely because nobody can think of a better idea.

[Kenneth]

His numbers tell one story, but his performaces were nowhere near his peak. His all round play had dropped off massively, but the team was structured around him and got the most out of him, despite his inability to run past players. Id say his first season with us was far superior. He also didnt pad his stats with penalty kicks either.