A mere six months on from raising the Premier League trophy aloft at Anfield, Arne Slot is now facing serious scrutiny over his future as Liverpool head coach.
The 47-year-old has now overseen a run of nine defeats in 12 games for his team over a two-month period, as many as they lost in 56 across all competitions last season, and even a few of those were of zero consequence due to what had already been achieved.
The sight of hundreds of Reds fans leaving Anfield well before the final whistle for the second time in five days summed up the club’s current plight, and Steven Gerrard said that ‘serious questions’ will be asked over the Dutchman’s job security given the enormity of LFC’s collapse in the autumn.
Slot could have only ‘one week’ to avoid the sack
In an article for the Liverpool Echo titled ‘Arne Slot may well have one week to keep his Liverpool job’, Ian Doyle opined that the goodwill from that first glorious season on Merseyside has now evaporated.
Whilst acknowledging that the 47-year-old has been ‘dealt a difficult hand this season with so many circumstances conspiring against’ him, the journalist still feels that the incumbent head coach is ‘standing on the precipice’ of losing his job.
Assessing the 4-1 drubbing by PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night, Doyle wrote: ‘This didn’t appear a team that was willing to scrap for their head coach or each other. For his own good, the Liverpool boss now has to either wield the axe or come up with a new gameplan. Sticking with this would be a needless act of self-harm.
‘He needs a reaction. He needs to see the squad are with him. And, above all else, he needs to win. There is no more wriggle room, no more benefit of doubt. Enough is enough. Slot may well have next week to keep his job.’
Arne Slot could have 'one week' to save his job as Liverpool head coach
(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Too soon for ‘Slot out’, but questions are now inevitable
The last thing we want is to call for the head of a Liverpool manager, especially one who confounded all expectations to win the Premier League at a canter in his first season in charge and thrive in the shadow of his glorious predecessor Jurgen Klopp.
However, the grim reality of elite football in the modern era is that a run of results like we’re currently enduring invites unforgiving scrutiny, irrespective of any accomplishments which have gone before. Every team will lose matches, but to lose this many – and to do so with such a whimper – will test even Slot’s most fervent backers.
It’s now at a stage where it’s not just the vocal minority on social media calling for change – when an experienced, balanced and respected journalist in Doyle claims that the Dutchman could be two games way from the sack (and he’s not the only one), the possibility of a pre-Christmas P45 feels plausible.
The head coach will ultimately be held accountable for Liverpool’s woes, but he’s also being let down by a group of players who are performing nowhere near an acceptable standard for where this club needs to be and should be, considering a summer trolley dash to the tune of £446m.
There won’t be any ‘Slot out’ cries from us just yet, and nothing could’ve prepared him for trying to deal with Diogo Jota’s death in July, but the ice under which the Dutchman is skating is undoubtedly becoming thinner.
No two ways about it – there needs to be a response against West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds over the next 10 days so that the wolf is kept at a safe distance from the door.
You can watch Slot’s full post-PSV press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: