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Arne Slot looks likely to stay at Liverpool and take them into next season, but that does not mean he has the support of the club’s fans.
Having watched their team transform from Premier League title-winners into a stodgy, grey side struggling to qualify for Europe, supporters are rightly disappointed with Slot.
While many will still see the logic behind giving the Dutchman a chance to turn things around, though, he really is not helping himself with some bizarre, and, at times, borderline delusional comments.
Slot has been annoying Liverpool fans with his press conferences on what has felt like a weekly basis this season, and ahead of Saturday’s clash with Crystal Palace, his claim that the Reds’ recent Premier League form has been ‘acceptable’ will give his detractors yet another stick to beat him with.
With Arne Slot expected to stay, will Liverpool challenge for the Premier League next season?
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Photo Credit: Getty Images/Carl Recine Liverpool’s recent form has not been ‘acceptable’
Having won the Merseyside Derby in dramatic fashion on Sunday, Liverpool have now won back-to-back Premier League matches to put themselves into a commanding position to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Nevertheless, before those two matches – against Fulham and then Everton – Liverpool had failed to win three league matches, two of which were with teams currently in the division’s relegation zone.
Though their form has picked up, it is still far from being anything like good enough, with the past eight matches including defeats to Wolves and Brighton, as well as a disastrous draw against Tottenham.
Photo by Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
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Throughout all of those matches, and even including the last two wins, Liverpool have played like a team devoid of ideas and waiting to concede. According to Slot, however, his team’s form has been absolutely fine.
“I think in the last eight games we picked up 16 points,” he said on Friday morning. “It doesn’t always feel like that, because in between we had to play Paris Saint-Germain and Man City, but our recent league form is acceptable.”
Put against the rest of Liverpool’s turgid season, that may be the case, but this is still a far cry from where this club expects to be.
Slot has been lowering standards and refusing to acknowledge his failures all season long, and this is yet more confirmation that he is happy to accept sub-standard results and performances from a team which should be challenging at the top of the table.
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A tough game for the Reds in recent times…
Credit: Dan Istitene/Getty Images Slot cannot afford to keep alienating supporters
As he seems to have the full support of the Liverpool owners, there is a danger that Slot does not realise just how precarious his position at the club currently is.
Fans will be willing to give him a chance if it is – as looks likely – decreed that he will be the head coach in 2026/27.
However, he should not mistake that for having free rein to do and say as he pleases. Supporters are angry with him, not only for the team’s performance, but for his own misguided comments, and he would do well to recognise that.
If he continues to make statements which completely go against what fans are expecting from a Liverpool manager, then it won’t matter what support he has from above, the calls to relieve him of his duties will become too loud and his position will be made untenable.
Of course, the easiest way of making this a non-factor is by winning matches, and if Liverpool produce 15 points from their final five games of the season then it will not matter at all.
If they then begin 26/27 in the same vein and install themselves as title challengers, then Slot will also be given more leeway. But if results keep flattering to deceive and he continues to spout what supporters will feel is self-serving nonsense, the pressure will ramp up.
Of course Liverpool’s form has not been acceptable recently, there is no world where they have lost against Wolves and Brighton that it could be.
Instead of trying to dupe supporters and realign expectations, Slot would be better off holding his hands up and vowing that things will turn around. Until then, frustration over his tenure will continue to bubble.
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