Michael Owen has had his say as Arne Slot's Liverpool job continues to come under scrutiny after an underwhelming season
Arne Slot
Arne Slot is under pressure at Liverpool(Image: Justin Setterfield)
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Arne Slot will receive his marching orders if he fails to win a trophy and misses out on Champions League qualification, according to ex-Liverpool star Michael Owen. The former Premier League sharpshooter believes such a failure would cost Slot dearly despite his first-season success.
The Dutchman guided the Reds to a dominant Premier League title win but has struggled to back that up this season. The Merseyside club currently sit in fifth place in the Premier League.
The division is expected to see five qualification spots for the Champions League, but Liverpool's place among the top five teams is not yet certain. The Reds sit a single point ahead of Chelsea and three points ahead of Brentford and Everton with seven matches remaining.
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Owen, the official UK ambassador for Casino.org, a comparison website highlighting the best online casinos for UK players, believes it is vital for Slot to find some success or risk losing his job. The 46-year-old would keep faith with Slot, however.
"If Liverpool don't win anything and they don't qualify for the Champions League through the league. Then, yeah, I'd be very surprised if he could, if he could hang on to his job," Owen told the Liverpool Echo.
"I know he won the league last season. And I, for one, think that he should be given more time and everything else like that.
Arne Slot reacts
Liverpool have struggled for form this season(Image: Getty Images)
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"But I mean, this is hypothetical, if worst came to the worst and they lost virtually every game, went out of both cup competitions and dropped to sixth in the league. I think everybody would expect him to struggle to keep his job there."
Owen believes it is sometimes a question of fine margins that lead to a number of things going wrong.
"There's a lot that's gone wrong," he said. "Like with any football team, you know you could say a million and one different things, you know people have been stopping you in the street for the last 12 years and saying, what's going wrong at Manchester United, and everybody's got a different view, and everyone's got a different view on Liverpool.
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"Some people blame the manager, some people blame the recruitment. Some people blame some of the players that have left, whatever, whatever your take is, the style of play or, or whatever. Some people are underperforming this season.
"You've just got to bear in mind that it's tiny little percentages here and there can make the difference between a very good season and an average one."