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Salah's outrage, Anfield boos and PSV humiliation - 10 moments that cost Slot the Liverpool job

Updated: 30 May 2026 13:45 BST | 11 min read

Arne Slot, Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Martin Macdonald

Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Liverpool have sacked Arne Slot after a fifth-place finish in the Premier League.

That was enough to secure Champions League football for the Reds next season, but they headed into the 2025/26 campaign as champions and what came was a dismal title defence that never saw them in the race to retain their crown.

Expectations were high as the club twice broke the British transfer record, first to sign Florian Wirtz from Leverkusen and then Alexander Isak from Newcastle, but it will go down as a failed window as key players departed and most of the ones that arrived underwhelmed.

Here are 10 key moments that cost Slot his job.

Underestimating Trent Alexander-Arnold's impact

Trent Alexander-Arnold deeply upset the supporters of his boyhood club when he opted to run down his contract to join Real Madrid on what should have been a free transfer last summer. Liverpool ultimately managed to get some money out of the deal because Los Blancos paid to have him available a few weeks earlier for the Club World Cup, but it was nevertheless a damaging departure.

A unicorn player, Alexander-Arnold had been Liverpool's main offensive creator while playing at right-back. Despite this, his importance to the side was seemingly underestimated by club chiefs. He was not adequately replaced.

Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid

Of course, his profile would have been almost impossible to copy anyway, but what the club ended up doing almost defied belief. They signed Jeremie Frimpong - who had primarily played as a wing-back in a back-three at Bayer Leverkusen - for €40 million.

Not only was the Dutchman wholly unprepared to fill Trent's shoes, but he also struggled for fitness and ended up barely playing. The fact that Conor Bradley also suffered injuries only made matters worse.

Ultimately, it appeared as though Slot was completely stumped as to how exactly to make up for the loss of Trent. He eventually attempted to recreate the England star's unique attacking output by playing Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, but this was never a permanent solution.

Selling Luis Diaz

Colombian winger Luis Diaz had a mixed reputation in the eyes of Liverpool fans until the 2024/25 season. He had been a hit-and-miss signing after joining from Porto in January 2022.

However, that all changed when Slot arrived at Anfield. Diaz was given a new lease on life and enjoyed the best season of his Liverpool career as the Reds stormed to the Premier League title in 2024/25.

In the summer, though, the Reds decided to cash in on Diaz. When Bayern Munich offered a whopping €70m for the then-28-year-old, it appeared to be a bid too good to turn down. That part still made some sense.

Luis Diaz has been sensational since being sold to Bayern

What didn't square, however, was that Liverpool decided not to adequately replace Diaz. Instead, they decided to trust the equally hit-and-miss Cody Gakpo and teenage winger Rio Ngumoha, whose path club chiefs didn't want to block.

In hindsight, it was a disastrous decision. Gakpo endured an awful 2025/26 season, while Ngumoha showed glimpses of promise, but Slot evidently didn't feel that he was ready for a starting role.

To make matters worse, Diaz played out of his skin at Bayern in the season just gone, bagging 26 goals and 23 assists in 51 games. Data analytics firm SciSports rates the 29-year-old as the best player in the world currently.

Alexander Isak's injuries

Liverpool appeared to have signed their new star striker last year when they spent €95m on Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike, but they dipped into the market again late into the window to also sign Newcastle No.9 Alexander Isak after a lengthy saga.

Having already broken the British spending record on Florian Wirtz that summer, they shattered their own benchmark by paying an eye-watering €145m on the Sweden international.

Isak, who was known for being injury-prone, arrived at Anfield lacking fitness after essentially going on strike in pre-season to force through a transfer, and it showed in his performances.

Alexander Isak struggling with form and injuries after a British-record move

It took weeks for him to get going, with any progress quickly undone by new niggling problems. In December, his nightmare became even worse when he broke his leg after scoring against Tottenham.

He was sidelined for over three months, and it massively contributed to Liverpool's poor results, especially as the form of Ektike, who had started the season on fire, also dipped. The Frenchman eventually suffered a serious injury, too.

Falling out with Mohamed Salah

Liverpool's poor performances and results led to Slot experimenting with various team compositions, which included dropping out-of-form club legend Mohamed Salah to the bench in late 2025.

The Premier League's Player of the Season when Liverpool won the title in 2024/25, the Egyptian didn't take too kindly to being relegated to a peripheral role. After being an unused substitute in two of three games between late November and early December, Salah snapped.

He gave a rare mixed-zone interview after a 3-3 draw with Leeds in which he accused the club of "throwing me under the bus" and said that his previously good relationship with Slot had become non-existent.

Slot managed to smooth things over, and Salah stayed in January despite hinting that he could leave, but feuding with one of the club's greatest ever players hugely undermined his position.

Based on form, Slot was right to drop Salah. However, the fans sided with their beloved attacker over the increasingly under-fire coach, and the rift between the two never fully healed.

Mohamed Salah is set to leave Liverpool

It is not surprising that Salah approached the club to have his contract terminated this summer, as all the indications had been that Liverpool would stick with Slot beyond this season.

Earlier this month, Salah took another shot at Slot, following a dire 4-2 loss to Aston Villa which left Liverpool's Champions League qualification in the balance. The Egyptian took to social media to urge the club to go back to the "heavy metal attacking" football of the Jurgen Klopp era.

"Us crumbling to yet another defeat this season was very painful and not what our fans deserve," Salah wrote. "I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies.

"That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.

"Winning some games here and there is not what Liverpool should be about. All teams win games. Liverpool will always be a club that means a great deal to me and to my family. I want to see it succeed for long after I have moved on."

Now, both are moving on.

Falling to Amorim's Man Utd

In October, Liverpool lost 2-1 to Manchester United as the Red Devils won at Anfield for the first time in a decade. Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring before Cody Gakpo, who hit the woodwork three times in the game, equalised as Liverpool pushed forward.

However, it would be Harry Maguire who would emerge as the match winner with a header in the 84th minute to give Liverpool a fourth-straight defeat.

This result came against a Man Utd team who were still effectively their worst in Premier League history, as they had finished 15th in the table the season before. United would go on to finish third, but Ruben Amorim was still in charge for this one and they were not a good outfit.

Liverpool 0-3 Forest

Nottingham Forest were on their third manager of the season by the time they rocked up to Anfield in November, with Sean Dyche now in charge after Nuno Espirito Santo was fired and Ange Postecoglou lasted barely over a month.

It was a team in disarray that Dyche was struggling to make compact, yet they played without fear at Anfield and tore Liverpool apart, eventually winning 3-0 after goals from Murillo, Nicolo Savona and Morgan Gibbs-White.

What was most worrying about this performance is that, while Slot's men should have been pressing forward in the last 10 minutes desperately trying to claw a goal or two back, it was actually Forest that looked the more dangerous side.

Isak, who had been struggling for fitness and form since signing, was given a start here, but he was anonymous and was eventually subbed in the 67th minute.

Humbled by PSV

The Champions League actually provided a source of relief for Liverpool for a lot of the season as they won six out of their eight games and finished third in the league phase behind just Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

However, one of those league phase losses had alarm bells ringing as Dutch giants PSV arrived at Anfield and demolished the Reds 4-1 on their own patch. Virgil van Dijk had an absolute nightmare in the centre of defence as he showed his age with opposition players drifting and sprinting past him with ease.

For many Liverpool fans, they believe he should have been sacked after this game as prior to it they lost 3-0 to Man City and 3-0 to Nottingam Forest.

At this point, it seemed like the team no longer had the heavy metal football of Jurgen Klopp, nor the controlled quality of Slot.

Defeat against City, Szoboslai reacts to fans

As the season progressed, it soon became clear that Liverpool's best chance of silverware would be the FA Cup as they had reached the quarter-final stage, after all.

However, they were easily defeated 4-0 by Manchester City despite starting the game at the Etihad in a positive fashion.

An Erling Haaland hat-trick and a goal from Antoine Semenyo put the Reds to the sword and what exacerbated the situation was Dominik Szoboszlai confronting the away fans after they made their feelings known about the result and performance.

This was a match that could have allowed Liverpool to put their league woes to one side, but they were eventually swept aside by a side they finished above the previous season, highlighting their regression.

Szoboszlai would later apologise to the fans, but the incident summed up the disconnect between the fans and the team this season.

Defeat against the worst team in the league

In March, Liverpool still held hopes of finishing in the top four but in early March they fell against one of the worst sides in the history of the Premier League, 2025/26 Wolves.

The home side took the lead and Liverpool were actually gifted an equaliser through Mohamed Salah after some shoddy defending but Wolves won with a last-gap winner from Andre. At that point, it was the fifth injury-time winner that Slot's men had conceded in the league.

It was just the third win that Wolves had managed all season and, despite being doomed to relegation, they showed more fight and spirit than Liverpool did.

Victory would have taken them level with Man Utd and Aston Villa - third and fourth respectively - on 51 points, but they remain fifth and never got higher.

Booed for Rio Ngumoha substitution

Liverpool fans made their feelings on Slot abundantly clear in early May when they booed his decision to take off young winger Rio Ngumoha in a clash with Chelsea.

The teenager was afforded a rare start by Slot and made an immediate impact, notching an assist early on in the game. In typical Slotball fashion, however, Liverpool withdrew after their early flurry and became increasingly passive, which allowed Chelsea to take control of the game.

The only relief was provided by Ngumoha with his dangerous runs forward, but Slot decided to take the young winger off in the second half, while leaving underperformers such as Cody Gakpo on the pitch.

When the 17-year-old walked off the pitch, deafening boos rang around Anfield before turning into applause for Ngumoha's performance. The message was clear: the fans were sick of Slot and his bizarre personnel decisions.

After the game, Slot made it clear that Ngumoha had asked him to be substituted because he no longer felt 100% fit, but the damage had already been done. The relationship between the Dutchman and the fans was completely broken