It's been a tricky season for Liverpool, who cannot catch a break on the injury front as Arne Slot's title-winning project crumbles around him.
Out of the Champions League and FA Cup in recent weeks, losing 4-0 to Paris Saint-Germain (on aggregate) and Manchester City, much has been made of the mitigating circumstances that have constricted Slot's project, snaking around him and refusing to let go.
Liverpool players look dejected-2
You could say that the Achilles rupture Hugo Ekitike has been condemned by has added insult to injury, but it is simply the latest reflection of a season of failings across so many departments.
Slot cannot catch a break this year, but nothing has improved throughout the campaign, and the thought of last year's Premier League Manager of the Year being dismissed are no longer far-fetched.
Liverpool could hire Arne Slot upgrade
Liverpool huffed and puffed against PSG, but they failed to create more than a bluster against Europe's indomitable superpower. For his part, Slot got the team selection wrong at Anfield, starting Alexander Isak when he shouldn't have.
If he goes, FSG will need to bring in the perfect replacement, someone who can build atop the foundations laid. Xabi Alonso seems the obvious choice, but hiring the Spaniard would hardly be a risk-free move.
The one-time Liverpool midfielder employs a unique three-man defence, and while he is tactically adaptable, there's a Slot-like quality about his set-up, all composure and control and intricate patterns.
Should FSG want a more intense and full-throttle outlook, perhaps Andoni Iraola would be the better pick.
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According to Football FanCast sources, the outgoing Bournemouth boss is open to taking charge at Anfield next season, having decided to leave his current club when his contract expires in June.
Iraola is a man in demand, with Athletic Bilbao among the favourites to secure the 43-year-old's signature and the likes of Newcastle United also keen as they consider parting ways with the under-fire Eddie Howe.
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Whether Iraola is the man to replace Slot - should the Dutchman indeed be fired - remains to be seen, but if FSG do decide to push that button, Iraola might just be their best bet.
Why Iraola could be a better fit for Liverpool than Alonso
Iraola, crucially, has a wealth of English experience while still enjoying the early stage of his promising managerial career. He has achieved a lot with Bournemouth, with Fabrizio Romano hailing him as "one of the best managers in the Premier League".
Arne Slot's Premier League Record with Liverpool
24/25
38
25
9
4
86:41
84
2.21
Iraola is all about intensity, favouring a full-throttle attacking approach. He'll want his players to outwork their opponents, and he'll want them to maintain defensive awareness and maintain build-up patterns. In short, he is more direct than Slot, leaning closer to Jurgen Klopp's gegenpressing ethos.
Klopp's points-per-game rate was inferior to that with Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool. Was the progress he made with the German outfit any less remarkable for it?
Looking at Slot's drop-off can be done with far more nuance, though, for last year's hero can be understood as today's villain in the results business, having overseen a sweeping summer transfer window and ended up a pale imitation of last season's superpower.
Iraola may well be the answer to his compatriot, Alonso, at Liverpool, more attuned to the desired style on Merseyside. His stint at Real Madrid left a lot to be desired, Los Blancos too slow and maladaptive to his ball-playing, intricate approach.
That's not to say Liverpool are in the same boat, but Alonso has yet to prove himself in the Premier League, and the Redmen players have seen their mentality questioned a number of times throughout the season
iraola record
Iraola could bring the squad onto the same page, creating a free-flowing attacking structure that might finally, finally, return this talented Liverpool team to the ascendancy.
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