Liverpool manager Arne Slot heads into Sunday’s game against West Ham with a gun to his head following last night’s Champions League humiliation.
Ordinarily, a European defeat wouldn’t signal a crisis — but Liverpool’s 4-1 collapse at Anfield to PSV Eindhoven was different. Their defending was nothing short of shambolic.
As we reported yesterday, Slot was rumoured to have been handed two games to save his job, and it now looks like he may have stumbled at the first hurdle. The Premier League champions are enduring their worst run of form since 1953, and should West Ham win at the London Stadium, the Hammers could move to within just four points of Slot’s struggling side.
Most Read on West Ham News
Arne Slot thinks about his Liverpool future
Arne Slot could lose his Liverpool job if West Ham win on Sunday
Some of the home sides defending was astonishingly poor. Ibrahima Konaté was so bad he had to be substituted, while Virgil van Dijk produced the most blatant handball you’ll see anywhere — a moment that summed up the panic running through Liverpool’s back line.
Liverpool’s defensive meltdown leaves Slot exposed
It was as incompetent as anything we saw from Graham Potters team at the beginning of the season. Everything looked rushed, nervous, and disorganised.
Speaking after the game, a shell-shocked Slot admitted:
“I think it is a shock for everyone. For the players, for the journalists in here, for me, for everyone. This is a shock and it’s very, very, very unexpected if you look at the quality we have. Is it a lack of confidence?”
West Ham may never get a better opportunity to pile the pressure on a wobbling Liverpool — and potentially push their manager even closer to the exit. This will have given Nuno Espirito Santo a real chance of winning what only recently was considered to be the toughest task in the fixture list. He must be licking his lips at the prospect.