Reporting on Sunday after Liverpool’s 4-0 FA Cup capitulation against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter final, Paul Joyce summarised the looming decision FSG must make over Arne Slot’s future.
The Dutch coach oversaw Liverpool’s 15th defeat of the season – something that hasn’t happened since Roy Hodgson was in charge of the club.
Liverpool have now been eliminated from every domestic silverware hunt, and with a Champions League quarter-final against PSG this week, all hope of progressing in Europe has been vanquished.
Writing in his column for the Times on Sunday morning, Joyce unsurprisingly had little encouragement for a manager who is facing the sack.
Joyce wrote: “A season of gloom lurched deeper into the mire with the manner of Saturday’s demoralising 4-0 quarter-final loss heaping more pressure on the head coach Arne Slot and exposing the alarming deficiencies of a club in a stupor.
“The away section at the Etihad was virtually empty at full-time with Liverpool having suffered a 15th reverse in all competitions of a dispiriting campaign in which Slot’s stock has repeatedly taken a battering.
“Liverpool owner Fenway Sport Group have been supportive of Slot, who won the Premier League title last season at the first attempt, but the looming fixture list is full of potential potholes that could challenge their conviction.”
(?) NEW: Fenway Sports Group have been supportive of Slot but the looming fixture list is full of potential potholes that could challenge their conviction.
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What are other reporters saying about Slot?
While Joyce alludes to the fact that FSG could sack Slot imminently, there are still many reporters who suggest the Dutchman could retain his role into the 2026/27 season.
Reporting live on Sky Sports on Sunday, Jason Burt said: “There are an awful lot of mitigating circumstances around that(the season). It’s been a difficult season… but I think they’ll look at it very forensically and think we haven’t achieved and we’re not quite sure we can carry on like this.
“Liverpool are saying the opposite at the moment, they’re saying they fully back the manager, but the fact is, it’s been made very clear they’ve got to qualify for the Champions League.”
BBC journalist Sam Drury insists that Liverpool are still backing Slot and that no imminent sacking is coming.
He says: Drury said: “There remains no indication that the club are planning to get rid of Slot, either now or at the end of the season.”
Mitigating circumstances do not explain the issues Liverpool are facing
In the summer of 2025, Liverpool tragically received news that Diogo Jota and his brother had perished in a road accident. The club was always going to face extreme challenges this season off the back of this personal disaster.
They used the summer transfer window to recruit aggressively, but have seen little return on the £460m spent on transfers. The biggest concern over the last six months has been the lack of belief from the players in their manager.
Against City, the Liverpool players gave up. Virgil van Dijk confirmed this after full-time, as Joyce reports, but that lack of belief comes from the top down.
Every single week, Liverpool appear to regress further, and there is a worrying lack of urgency from FSG.
They have done nothing so far to course correct. Now, the only decision left to them is to relieve Slot of his role and replace him with someone who can inspire the players and restore the identity that has vanished from this squad.