Arne Slot pledged to fight on when addressing the media on Thursday afternoon - but he is under big pressure to turn things around at Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp watching the World Cup qualification match between Germany and Slovakia in Leipzig earlier this month
Jurgen Klopp watching the World Cup qualification match between Germany and Slovakia in Leipzig earlier this month
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Arne Slot vowed to "fight on" as Liverpool head coach after talks with the Anfield hierarchy following the defeat to PSV Eindhoven. The Reds’ 4-1 Champions League defeat to PSV on Wednesday night left them on their worst run of form in over 70 years.
After starting their Premier League title defence with five straight wins – and their season, post-Community Shield, with seven – Slot’s side then lost four in a row and have not recovered since. As a result of his side’s poor run of form, the Dutchman is now under huge pressure to turn things around with his team 12th in the Premier League and 13th in Europe.
Slot pledged to fight on when addressing the media on Thursday afternoon, but that hasn’t stopped speculation emerging on who could succeed him if he were to depart Anfield in the coming weeks.
The overriding favourite with the bookmakers is Jurgen Klopp, who left the club last year after winning the Champions League in 2019 before leading Liverpool to their first league title in 30 years a year later.
Covering the links in the German publication BILD, journalist Marcel Reif sensationally claimed: “Liverpool isn’t just in a mess. It’s practically burned to the ground!
“The timing of this statement (Klopp on Diary of a CEO) is terrible for Slot. He’s hovering over Anfield like a UFO. All of Liverpool would carry him back on their shoulders. And it would be negligent if they didn’t try to bring Klopp back.
“In Liverpool, the scar from his departure is far from healed. I don’t know what it’s like being Global Head of Soccer and whether you ever start to wonder, ‘Is this really me?’
“He was exhausted after that time. It took its toll. Now he looks very rested. Almost as if Arne Slot has to watch out…”
Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool last summer after nearly nine years in charge
Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool last summer after nearly nine years in charge
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Reif's comments come just days after Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness claimed Klopp will not remain in his Red Bull role for the long term.
“I could never imagine him as an official travelling around the country, to New York, looking after the various teams," he said via BILD. "And I don’t think that will be a good model in the long run. I also don’t think he’ll do that forever, I can’t imagine it.
"I have always admired Jurgen Klopp as a coach who is on the pitch, who develops a team, who moves a team forward with his personality. I see Jurgen Klopp on the pitch and nowhere else.”
Klopp, who has taken on roles as head of global soccer with the Red Bull group and in an advisory capacity with the German Football League since leaving Anfield, said it is "theoretically possible" that he could one day return as Liverpool manager during a recent appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast.
"I said I will never coach another team, a different team, in England," he said. "So that means if then it's Liverpool... yeah. Theoretically it's possible."
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