[The Athletic] Ten months ago, Arne Slot was being hailed as Liverpool’s title-winning hero. Now, his position is the subject of huge scrutiny after a miserable season where his side has been beaten 14 times. So what should the club do?

Change the coach

Individual players are fine, we know what they can do but they need someone to be the conductor, motivator, tactician to allow them to show their talents on the field, consistently.

It’s obvious.

He’s had plenty opportunity to change over the season and hasn’t. Why should he be given a summer to fix it?

Nostalgia will kill you. Look at the drop when Souness took over. It took ten years to come back from that.

Needs to be done this summer.

The players shouldn’t get away without scrutiny either though. Virgil has been disappointing as captain this season. Gakpo obviously. Salah is clearly on a decline.

We should be all in for Xabi. Legend, man motivator who built a side around Wirtz. I would gladly accept him even if he wins nothing but shows that these players can have spirit back on the pitch. Slot needs to be asked to leave, he has lost the players.

How one team can fall off so far in one season is honestly bewildering. Only other team that’s worse is probably forest how far they fell this season compared to last.

It’s not the losing, it’s the dross football and the utter lack of belief I have in them to win even if they’re winning in the 80th minute.

I was prepared to give him some leeway; the passing of Jota, lots of personnel changes and aging starters in VVD and Salah. But this far in you can’t protect a lead against Tottenham? Pumped by wolves? Fucking hell just call us Saint Vincent de Paul or Oxfam at this point for how charitable we’ve been.

Edit to remove poor analogy.

I can only really think of Szoboszlai,Kerkez and Wirtz who give everything.

Rest of the players to me easily give up.

They just are not playing for Slot at all.

I do feel he isnt really the type of manager to have after the tragic death ogf Jota.

Seems quite cold and a person players wouldnt feel comfortable opening up about any mental health issues.

Been a very tough season.

Respect and am grateful for him for winning us another league title.

But it’s time to move on from him. Hope we bring in Xabi over the summer. But I’d take anyone who gets us to play with high pressing and high intensity again.

All of the journalists offering their opinions in the article do not think he should be sacked before end of the season, and about half of them say they think he should have a chance to get another go without the squad problems of this year. But all of them recognize his support amongst fans is flailing and that short of a CL win or a very big turn around in form, it’s unlikely he keeps his job past the summer. 

Well you can list off the things that are not directly Slot’s fault and see if it’s enough to justify the things that are:

– Salah in particular is not at any level we’ve become accustomed to – tactical factors are at play but Slot can’t be blamed for every pass to nowhere or dribble into a defender’s legs from a player we’ve made exception for in terms of pay, never being subbed etc.
– Some players can be singled out for big individual drop offs – Konate, Macallister would be most notable to me.
– Injuries at right-back and to Isak effectively halting the planned switchover from Trent/Diaz/Nunez to a new structure. Leoni immediately injured so no depth at centre back.
– The premier league has genuinely changed style and while Slot is responsible for reacting to it he couldn’t necessarily have seen the full extent to which it would go. Also not clear he was directly responsible for why set pieces were so fucked up given the swing on that in the new year.
– Some genuine bad luck, although compounded by Slot’s tactics that seem to promote every game tilting on a knife while also being a slog to watch.

The problem for me is that we should be comfortably third, even if you added a bunch more problems to that list, so I’m not confident anymore that even if things are going well in the future that a small derailment won’t turn into a spiral

If we were by and large playing well, committed to actively attacking without throwing all caution to the wind to the final whistle, and it just wasn’t going for us, then I could understand it, accept that it was just not our season, and trust that it will be different next time.

But the reality is that we are dropping points and losing so often by being outplayed, outfought, and outmaneuvered tactically, and that is unforgivable with the players we’ve had available almost without interruption. The first few months get a pass for squad adaptation and mourning Diogo. But past a certain point, an adaptable, competent manager swallows his pride and puts what fits the players’ abilities above his own hubris.

Sacking him without sorting out the background problems will just have us ending up like the mancs.

I don’t really mind the losses. It’s the way it is happening. The football is aweful. Nobody on our team seems to know what they are supposed to do. It doens’t look like it’s a team working together. Even most of our wins are aweful to watch.
At least under Rodgers the football was on fire. Even when we played our worst, we could see the idea behind it.

And yes, I have seen analyses of what we are doing, and excuses about that the opponents aren’t trying to play football, and that is why it is not working – but that is a terrible excuse. If we can’t play football, if the opponents isn’t playing exactly how we want them to play, then we are doing everything wrong.

On paper we have an absolutely excellent team, that should be feared everywhere – but we are playing like we shouldn’t even be in the PL.

I’m done with this. We need a new manager – or we need to send him on some training courses, so that he can see where it all is wrong.

Even if the most ardent Slot supporters are correct and it’s more “player laziness, disinterest, etc” as the primary cause for the struggles, the fact remains that it’s always easier in team sports to change manager/coach than it is to shuffle an entire roster around.

It might not be his fault, but if a change is to be made? He’s the one that’s going to go.

What of the boys take the fa cup and the champion league title which both are possible. Would he still need to go?

It’s on slot and his coaching side. We’re unfit, have been all season, we’re out fun far too many games. We’re picking up injuries anyway, so why not play a style the players are used to and the players brought in are adapted too, pressing/attacking football!

His lack of interest on the youth set up is likely part of the reason youngsters are moving/rumoured to be moving.

Too many ‘days off for the lads’ so he can head home, he shouldn’t be taking a job on in the first place if he doesn’t move his family out or isn’t comfortable with extended periods apart.

His man management is poor, will ramsay make it at Liverpool? Probably not, but to throw him under the bus doesn’t look good.

He’s contributed last season, now he’s a net negative, football changes quickly, especially in the modern day, his time was done in October, now we’re flogging a dead horse.

As a Brazilian fan who’s also a Flamengo supporter: Filipe Luís had a record-breaking year for Flamengo where he won everything, he started this year shaky at best. Club president fires him abruptly. A lot of fans got outraged, the media got outraged. The team instantly looks energized and playing better football. Unfortunately, in football, changing coaches can have this spark in some players that are unhappy for one reason or another. But, on another note, there’s Tottenham. Nothing they do works, no matter how many coaches they fire. So I don’t really know what’s the answer. It’s a tough decision for sure. Loads of factors to account for. Injuries being a critical one. What are the flaws of the team? Is the coach to blame for them? Is the coach asking them to run less or are the players unhappy? Only someone on the inside can tell, I guess.

Worth remembering we’d a couple of lucky last minute wins at the start of the season. We could easily be 8-9 points worse off and sitting on 40-42 points. It’s not that we’ve been playing well and been desperately unlucky. We’ve been playing desperately and got lucky on the odd occasion.

Can’t believe I’m saying this about a coach who won the league last year but he has to go unfortunately.

Should have been sacked by now… League winner or not, still can’t understand how 9 wins in 26 games is justifiable lol. Clearly they are trying to do the ‘we don’t sack like the other clubs’ gimmick.
Plus if they don’t care about the UCL spots (which they obviously don’t by their decision not to sack him or spend in Jan) why should Slot?

How are there still questions being asked about this. Sack him at this international break

I’ll be angry if we lose Alonso to another EPL team. There’s plenty that will want him.

Pep will be leaving City, Spurs (??), Chelsea and if Arsenal fall over possibly Arteta.

I do think we’d be his first choice but that’s only if we want him.

This team should be flying, we have seen some incredible performances, but not often enough.
We lack consistency.
We have a young squad, most of who will leave if we don’t get Champions League football.
The Club need to bring back Gerrard as a Coach to the first team.
He would not accept some of the performances and would sort a few people out.
We had 30 years of this madness.
It looks like it’s happening again.

We’re too….Dutch now?? Polite football isn’t a winning formula in the PL.

He has to go. If you have a couple players underperforming but everyone else is top, that’s a player problem. When the spirit of the entire team is in the toilet but you have a few exceptions, that’s the coach. Xabi is the Xobvious choice here.

I questioned the owners when Ranieri got fired from Leicester after winning the title but I think now I understand? It sure feels like we’re riding in the same boat and I wanna get a new skipper

What should the club do ? SACK HIM FFS 🤷‍♂️ if my Mrs sleeps with the guy next door 14 times am I meant to then say ” lets give it another year we had a good year last year ?!!