It might also be the rest days have been spread differently (break individually vs break as a group), but I’m not inclined to make any research on it. ![]()
It certainly has something to do with the photos that were posted regularly; Dom and Alexis probably went a bit overboard—it felt like there were shots of city trips or private jets every two weeks. And that just doesn’t go down very well when the team isn’t performing well.
Lots of people are treating the review like it is the first time the information has been compiled or looked at. It is likely that Hughes’ team maintains this on an ongoing basis, likely on a match to match basis and Hughes would have been reviewing it periodically. In most orgs, particularly when things are not going well, your boss (Edwards) and your boss’ boss will also expect some form of interim reports even if only so they are not going in cold to the formal end of season review where they know big decisions are going to have be made.
As has been mentioned, there are very different narratives building about the faith the org retained in Slot with it both being an abrupt about turn and something we’d been downlow planning for since the winter with concerns being present as far back as the summer. As @Kopstar suggested, one way to make sense of that was a growing sense of unease from the higher ups while Hughes retained trust. In that situation it is common that the formal review is not a case of reviewing a power point, but one of the bosses saying “we know what is in the power point, now tell us why we’re wrong that a change needs to be made.” People may ask then why didn’t they demand something be done sooner, and that would be a reflection of respect for the process, their role in it, and for the people working for them.
Same. Something doesn’t feel right, and this whole saga has made me feel uncomfortable about both of them.
One for the other thread.
That only counters the weakest version of the critique. The better version of the concern raised is how well earned was the time off they were given (how much work were they required to do on the days they were required to show up) and the freedom on what they were allowed to do on those days off. It is a question of the overall balance of hard work vs recovery of which the frequent city trips were just a highest visibility (and bad optics) element of concern.
As if his termination wasn’t finalised by way of a settlement agreement ![]()
https://x.com/AnfieldSector/status/2061406086150639747
: Players privately questioned the wisdom of moving Dominik Szoboszlai to fill in the void at right-back. Others felt that the new signings were given an easier ride and were more likely to retain their place if they under-performed. Some players picked up on the fact that training, meetings and pre-match plans towards the end of the season contained fewer tactical details than before. That was viewed as a bonus by those who felt Slot had previously spoken for too long, but being more concise didn’t trigger any discernible improvement. During the defeat at Villa Park, sources say there was uncertainty within the team over who was responsible for what when defending set pieces and the hosts were able to exploit that for their opening goal with the inquest continuing in the away dressing room. Four days after that game, on May 19, there was a meeting at Kirkby which resulted in a number of players believing that Slot might be replaced. However, they only knew for sure when the news broke on Saturday. Read the
’s piece on why Arne Slot was sacked and want Iraola to replace him:
By the way I think we’re going to run into an equally difficult situation with Szoboszlai this summer. He has two years left on his contract, and if he doesn’t sign a new one now the club need to give serious thought to moving him on while his stock is relatively high. Getting some discipline on contracts is no bad thing, and if players don’t agree to a new deal two years out, then they should be sold. The fans will howl about it, but they’ll also howl when we let players get down to the last year and then leave on a free.
I agree with this. It’s quite stunning that fsg, being the disciplined lot they usually are, accepted to be drawn in situations like the one of Trent last summer, and now Konaté. I for one will welcome a more disciplined approach, even if it means selling a popular player two years before the end of his contract.
But we already need 5-6 new players. Don’t think we can afford to sell anyone currently, and that include Szobo, Jones and Gakpo
I suspect most of the thinking has been going on for at least the last couple of months. In particular, I suspect Iraola has been aware of this possibility for at least a couple of weeks - the Italian reporting around his turning down AC Milan in favour of Palace just didn’t make much sense. However, I do think that the decision was not finalized until after the season was done. It is a tough call to get rid of a manager who has won a title - it certainly wasn’t going to happen six months ago. If the team had ended the season with 4 wins instead of 2L 2D, Slot delivers a 3rd place finish in a very challenging season, and has clear ideas on how to do better - he probably stays in the job despite some concerns. Even with 2 games left a 4th place finish was on the table. I am just not convinced there was in fact nothing that was going to change that outcome - but in particular, the ‘lost the dressing room’ problem was likely both a factor in itself and led to those poor results.
I don’t think we have any interest in becoming more agile than Chelsea is at getting new managers, they have far more practice.
Probably been said already in here, but im gonna say it anyway.
Albeit things went tits up, and we are all glad Arne is gone, he dealt with some very difficult times admirably, including the death of Jota and the senseless act of violence during the PL trophy parade.
Wish him all the best. He leaves having taken us to our 20th title, which was only my second in the time supporting the club.
I wish I could make stuff up and get paid.
Shorter flight to Ibiza, sounds like an ideal move for him.
Arne! Come in, have a seat. How are the kids? Right…to business. Only one of us is leaving this meeting with a job, can you guess which one?
FUN FACT ALERT
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I now know what ‘a beano’ means.
I do think Slot was eventually sacked for non football reasons. If it was for results or style of play, it didn’t need to wait till last week. I believe the management still believed he can turn around the results with his style of play with a new season. However I think they would have wanted him to do more on the non football side to endear himself to the press, to the fans, to the city generally and probably he would have resistance to that as an infringement of his personal space and it becomes a either you take it or sack me situation.
there’s probably more than one reason or one type of reason why slot was sacked.. I’m sure what you are saying played a part in the decision to stack slot. But the reason why I believe they waited was to make sure that Champions League football was secured for next season. They didn’t want to disrupt the team, underperforming and in disarray as it is, with firing arne and bring someone in somehow making the situation even worse, which hardly seems possible admittedly.
also to at least give Arne the chance to complete a whole season. Remember, at one point we actually looks like we might pip United and get third spot. Then we sank again.
Arne deserved to lose his job due to a lack of tactics and direction, I don’t know anyone who understood what the team was trying to achieve either in or out of possession.
The rest is just noise.
I do think Slot was eventually sacked for non football reasons. If it was for results or style of play, it didn’t need to wait till last week. I believe the management still believed he can turn around the results with his style of play with a new season. However I think they would have wanted him to do more on the non football side to endear himself to the press, to the fans, to the city generally and probably he would have resistance to that as an infringement of his personal space and it becomes a either you take it or sack me situation.
Slot was probably well recieved in his first year at Liverpool. That’s what winning the league does do. All the “non football side” equations only come into the equation because the results of the football matches were not good enough. The club and the fans would have been willing to cut him some slack if he had persisted with the style of football that won them the league last year even if the results weren’t forthcoming.
There needed to be something shown from him on the football side on the direction that he wanted to take the team forward. He talked the right game, But he didn’t back it up.