Image Credits: Imago Images
Steven Gerrard still feels that Arne Slot should be granted some slack at Liverpool despite the underwhelming season so far.
The Reds are embroiled in a Champions League race, with early indications being that 5th place in the Premier League will be granted Champions League football via UEFA’s coefficient rules.
Despite the worst period of the season now behind Arne Slot’s men, large swathes of the fanbase are still firmly wanting a change in manager.
However, speaking about Liverpool’s issues this season on the Overlap, the Liverpool legend does not agree:
“The first signs of the issues they’ve got now, I saw it in the League Cup final. I travelled over from Bahrain,” Gerrard said.
“I took my lad to the game, went into the game really confident that they’d beat Newcastle, although I like how Eddie [Howe] sets his teams up and knew it would be a difficult game.”
“But they just dominated us from start to finish, they just bullied us. That was the first time I thought, ‘Ooh, that’s so far away from what I was watching a few months before.'”
“He has (got credit in the bank) with me, because, I think more than anyone on the planet, I know how difficult it is to win a league, and for him to come in and win a league in his first season.
Gerrard then explained why Arne Slot still a lot has more credit with him when all things are considered:
“He’s got a lot more credit with me. I know how difficult it is, at Liverpool, they demand, they expect to win it every year. So I think he needs the opportunity to sort of play his way out of trouble, fix the issues, and try to get himself back in a good place.”
“I think he did, during that period, a few months ago, where they’d lost nine out of 12, but then they went on a run where he took them from 12th to 4th in the league.”
“I think someone who’s won a league deserves at least a full season to try and get out of the problems and the issues that they’ve got. I’m certainly one of those people, but I have to understand what the fans are saying as well, because it has been dire in certain games and performances, like, really dire.”
Arne Slot will no doubt be closely judged in the closing ends of the season, with Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday before heading to France for the first leg of the PSG Champions League tie.
Should Liverpool come out of those two crunch fixtures with acceptable results, pressure will be eased on the Dutchman.
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