Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Leeds United at Anfield
Arne Slot could've paid more attention to the 'optics' at Anfield
At most clubs the manager isn’t the figurehead in the way in which they are at Anfield. Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Jurgen Klopp are a deity on Merseyside and around the world.
Rafa Benitez was similarly loved, so too Gerard Houllier. They were perceived, rightly, as being people who understood the football club, its history, its supporters, the city of Liverpool and its working-class roots.
Crucially, they immersed themselves in all aspects as Liverpool Football Club’s leader.
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'One of us'
Andrew Robertson of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round match between Wolves and Liverpool on March 06, 2026 in Wolverhampton, England.
Andy Robertson developed a rare connection with Liverpool fans that means he departs as a club legend
It’s the same for players. Those who go all in and embrace everything about the club are often afforded more leeway when things get difficult, and also remembered fondly for who they were rather than just what they achieved.
Take Andy Robertson as a prime example. A player who was “one of us” on the pitch, as described by The Anfield Wrap and by Klopp himself in their documentary on the departing Scot.
The Perception Problem For Arne Slot
A fan of Liverpool holds up a sign which reads "Thanks for great times, mo.Salah + Robbo, YNWA, Taxi for slot" prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Chelsea
The majority of Liverpool fans hoped their final game of the 2025/26 season would be Slot's last as manager
“They (the fans) don’t care that much about the result as long as you sweat and give your blood here, they’ll love you forever,” assessed Mo Salah, quite accurately, while standing next to Robertson after their final game for Liverpool. “This is my message to you guys (other players), it’s not about talent – it’s probably why [Robertson] is loved more than anyone maybe! – you just give it all and the fans love you for that.”
A manager, though, cannot run harder or deliver on the pitch in order to prove their effort. It has to be shown in other, more subtle and often hidden ways.
One of the problems for Arne Slot in his second season at Anfield was that he, and seemingly his coaching staff, failed to understand the role that perception plays with supporters at a club like Liverpool.
When you’re winning, everything is good. But when you’re losing, and Liverpool lost 20 times in all competitions in Slot’s second season, everything is under the microscope. Explanations become excuses. Every detail is hyper-analysed and often misinterpreted.
One of the major talking points among Liverpool fans as the season continued to spiral was Slot’s decision to live close to Manchester airport, often being accused of taking days off for holidays in Ibiza and Dubai, returning for a pre-match press conference in mid-winter with a tan.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has welcomed four new faces to the club so far
Arne Slot didn't hold pre-match press conferences for Carabao Cup ties
Other members of Slot’s staff also lived in Manchester City centre. As the second season struggle hit, accusations of disconnect snowballed among the fan base.
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Now, the shadow of Klopp is one that Slot had to work with, but fans share stories of Klopp living alongside Liverpool supporters in nearby Formby, walking his dog and engaging in conversations, going to the local pub, playing lawn bowls, and his family all being part of the community.
It was similar with Benitez, whose family enjoyed life on the Wirral so much they still reside there now. Klopp and his staff embraced everything Liverpool, showing a true understanding of the club and its history. Supporters felt like they knew them.
Liverpool didn't hold pre-match press conferences for Carabao Cup ties under Slot, whereas under Klopp, his assistant, Pepijn Lijnders, took the opportunity to undertake media duties and get his message across to fans. You could file that under a missed opportunity for the likes of Sipke Hulshoff and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Slot lived in Cheshire’s so-called ‘golden triangle’ - where many Liverpool, Man City and Man United players reside. It became a talking point among fans. Does it really matter if the Liverpool manager lives on Merseyside? Probably not, but the optics aren’t great, especially when things start to go wrong. Advice to the next manager: live on Merseyside. As an aside, the club's sporting director should probably live on Merseyside, too.
In the final weeks of the season, Slot was pictured having dinner with his family, who hadn’t moved to England with him, in London on a day off. At a time when the Reds had exited both the Premier League and FA Cup in 4-0 defeats, and during a run at the end of the season that saw just three wins in 11 games, it wasn’t well received.
Likewise, his rather poorly judged photo with Wayne Lineker at O Beach in Ibiza - taken during the season but after the title was won - was now used to question Slot’s work ethic. “He never seemed to fully buy into the club,” one supporter told FourFourTwo.
Advice to the next manager: live on Merseyside. As an aside, the club's sporting director should probably live on Merseyside, too.
Those accusations from fans have been somewhat corroborated by reporting, via journalist David Lynch, that there were concerns from academy staff that Slot didn’t ‘pay attention’ to the academy, rarely, if ever, watching Under-21s or Under-18s games, and thus frustrating staff. This, it’s now reported, is one of the reasons Liverpool made the decision to sack the Dutchman after just two seasons, with a pathway needing to be provided for youngsters from the academy.
Teenage midfielder Trey Nyoni, who was handed his debut by Klopp aged 16 and was among the subs when Liverpool lifted the League Cup in Klopp’s final season, played just 21 minutes in the Premier League this season. The reluctance to use Rio Ngumoha was also seen as a snub to the academy, while a question on striker Jayden Danns in mid-April saw Slot seemingly unaware that the 20-year-old had actually suffered another injury setback. “He’s now getting back with the U21s, getting some playing time,” he said, despite Danns having been subbed with a hamstring issue after just 22 minutes on his comeback the month before.
Head Coach vs. Manager
Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah have had their differences
Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah had their differences
Perhaps the signs pointed to Slot being less involved from the off, handed the title of head coach rather than manager, wearing a tracksuit for his unveiling press conference. It gave the impression of being a coach rather than a manager; here to work on the training ground. Plus, nobody could ever repeat the all-in approach of his predecessor anyway, and even Klopp admitted he had to change his approach to training the players, admitting a “silly decision” in his second season.
“When I came here, the players had a few days off,” Klopp said. “I changed it and said: ‘How can they have three or four days off or something?’ It was a silly decision. It’s only because I was not used to it. Now we are proper English coaches, we know about the fixtures, the intensity of the next few months. Each possibility for a little break, you have to use. That's what we have to do.”
So Slot’s approach to giving players time off didn’t differ hugely from Klopp’s, but still, stories from former players of the intensity of Klopp's sessions and training in pre-season lived in the memory for supporters. Again, perception is everything, and while Klopp eventually changed to give players time off, Klopp himself didn’t take that time off; helped by his family living with him locally. When FFT asked Klopp in 2021 what he’s looking forward to in life after football, his answer was quick and strong: “Seeing the world. It’s easy (answer).” “I have no time,” he added.
Slot was actually asked about his frequent trips to Ibiza, admitting: “That’s the downside of being a Liverpool manager: if you are somewhere in public, then they can make videos.” “If the sun shines and I can be with my family, then it’s my kind of place,” said Slot, whose very first official words at Liverpool were ironically to say how energised he felt after “the holiday I had.”
Again, there’s nothing truly wrong about it, but perception is everything in football, especially for a manager, and especially at a club like Liverpool. Perhaps Liverpool’s idolisation of their manager is because the club have only had 22 of them in their 134-year history – and only two in the post-war era (Brendan Rodgers and Roy Hodgson) didn’t win a trophy. The next manager needs to ensure they don’t add to that short and unwanted list. They can learn a little about where it went wrong for Slot.