Arne Slot has lost the Liverpool dressing room after taking a negative approach this season, according to former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara.
Slot is under mounting pressure for his job at Anfield, with Saturday’s dismal FA Cup defeat against Manchester City the latest low point of a difficult campaign.
And as Liverpool prepare to make a decision on their head coach, O’Hara has claimed that Slot has now shown that he is simply not good enough to manage the Reds, and the players know it.
Who was Liverpool’s worst player during the abysmal defeat against Man City?
Some PATHETIC displays 😡
Liverpool players during loss to Man City
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
Slot is ‘not good enough’ to manage Liverpool
Though Slot has clearly made plenty of mistakes this season, the Liverpool players have also badly let him down along the way.
This has led to claims that the Reds need to do big business in this year’s summer transfer window, but speaking on TalkSPORT, O’Hara claimed that it is the manager, not the players, who need to be replaced.
“I don’t think they need a massive overhaul, I just think the manager’s not good enough,” he said. “I think Arne Slot will go in the summer. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t go soon with people like your Gerrard’s and your Alonso’s waiting in the wings, waiting for that moment.
“Liverpool stood by Slot to be fair, they had a difficult start with what went on and the fact that they won the league and then had to rebuild a bit, but he’s been found out. He’s not good enough.”
Arne Slot during Manchester City v Liverpool - Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
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“This is not the Liverpool team I know, the Liverpool team we all got to love really,” O’Hara continued. “The DNA of Liverpool, rock and roll football, high tempo, high press, going after teams. They fell off a cliff and I think the players have lost belief in the manager now.
“So, I don’t think there’s a massive overhaul in terms of the players. They need to add some quality, maybe at the back, centre-half, but I’m not convinced that they’re a bad team.”
There is no question that Liverpool have much more quality in their squad than their current league position would suggest. Slot should have got so much more out of them.
The players are far from blameless in all of this, but as the saying goes, you can’t sack the squad. You can, however, sack the manager, and having lost the belief of his charges, it is starting to feel inevitable that that is where this all ends up.
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