THE trouble with Arne Slot was he happened to peak early; he followed Liverpool’s folk hero, Jürgen Klopp and won the league title with an unchanged team that had been built by the popular German. And then, in the club’s record spending spree, one that was boosted by the spoils of Premier League success, Slot was expected to bring more, possibly greater, triumphs.
As we all now realise, the business of transfers has little to do with team managers these days, so the Liverpool recruitment team, including Messrs Edwards and Hughes, cast their nets to the north of England and to Leverkusen in Germany to bring Aleksander Isak and Florian Wirtz to Anfield. The data suggested these were two of the most coveted players in European football, costing £ 225 million, but neither lived up to expectations. One definite success in the market, however, was Hugo Ekitiké, who cost £ 69 million from Frankfurt.
But questions have to be asked about Liverpool’s approach to keeping veteran players Virgil Van Dijk and Mo Salah, the latter in particular was a big and unsettling disappointment in 2025-26. Presumably, they had hoped to sign Marc Guéhi as the heir to Van Dijk’s throne in defence, but they were beaten to the post by Manchester City. The Liverpool defence was found wanting at time and their 53 goals conceded in the Premier was their worst record since 2014. Similarly, they lost 23 goals of their own, scoring 63 versus 86 in 2024-25.
Salah, who has now gone, suggested Liverpool had lost their style and he may have been right, but what exactly was their style? We know what it was under Klopp, but surely Slot deserved a chance to develop his own method? You would have thought winning the Premier League in 2025 would have given Slot some time in year two? Clearly not.
He certainly received plenty of criticism from Liverpool fans, many of whom were leaving Anfield before the end of games when things were not going well – something you never really expected to see at that particular club. By the time the campaign petered out, Slot was walking alone.
Liverpool were beaten 20 times during the course of the season, an unprecedented number of defeats that included setbacks at Wolves and at home to Nottingham Forest. They were also humbled by PSV Eindhoven at home in the Champions League and well and truly thumped by Manchester City in the FA Cup. Their Champions League run ended with a brace of 2-0 defeats at the hands of eventual winners Paris Saint-German – no great shame but an indication of the gap between the French champions and Liverpool.
The spine of the team that won the league in 2025 and carried the torch for Klopp is all but gone, so Liverpool are clearly in transition mode, but perhaps their spending in the summer of 2025 was not so well targeted. At some point, Slot had to deal with the passing of time for some of the big names and maybe they should have bitten the bullet and allowed Salah and Van Dijk to move on last summer. It must also be remembered that Liverpool also had to deal with a lengthy injury list and the tragic death of Diogo Jota.
One senses that the club’s owners did not want to deal with growing supporter discontent concerning Slot, which really places them in the same boat as most other big clubs today. There is no such thing as a long-term football manager and not even winning a league title guarantees the patience of that second difficult season. Liverpool were never consistent enough or tight enough to defend their crown in 2025-26 and that effectively cost Slot his job after two years despite a win rate that was only marginally lower than his predecessor.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)