Arne Slot - Head Coach (Part 1)

I’m not sure about that. We are incredibly lucky that the five first places offer CL football in this season of mediocrity, so we’ll maybe get qualification for that competition (not a foregone conclusion yet… fingers crossed though!).

But the owners and Edwards/Hughes will look at the sporting achievement: how many points, and where would we normally land with that number of points. And they’ll assess the dynamics of where we are heading to. They have much more information than us to make their judgment, but I wouldn’t say that landing fifth place is a guarantee for Slot to keep his job.

And as I keep saying, his fate this summer will also be decided by the availability or not by someone deemed potentially better than him, ie. Alonso. If nobody is available, it could indeed prolong his stay until the right person becomes available ( ie. Rodgers —> Klopp as the outstanding example).

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Yep, exactly my feelings. Still waiting. Sometimes you can see a team that feels like it’s builiding towards something potentially great, but just isn’t quite there yet.
This season didn’t feel like that at all.

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What you mention in your final paragraph could very well be the case; Hughes obviously can’t afford to have another manager who makes us play like this and is responsible for seasons like this in terms of results. So far, the buying and selling of players hasn’t been a great success either; some signings like Wirtz and Ekitike have been good, but I’m not keen on Mama and Frimpong. Selling Diaz is a complete blunder, in my opinion.

Isn’t next season also the last year of his current contract?

If Villa can win the EL and we can knock them down to fifth then it should end up being the top six league places will get CL football next season.

Lets hope Man City finally get found guilty of cheating (wont hold my breath) and are docked loads of points, meaning they miss out on a champs league spot!

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Reminded me of this, especially the plank hammering bit around the 5:01 mark

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Ian Doyle - Liverpool Echo

It is the Liverpool season nobody saw coming. And while there remains Champions League qualification to secure, the thoughts of many are starting to drift towards what should happen next.

A disappointing defence of last year’s dominant Premier League title triumph has placed Reds boss Arne Slot under increasing pressure and left in doubt the future of several players.

And for Anfield legend Steve Nicol - now a long-time pundit in the United States for ESPN - while the finger of blame cannot be pointed in just one direction, responsibility ultimately lies in the dugout.

“Who is at fault? You’d have to say both the manager and the players," he said to the ECHO. “There have been very, very few games where Liverpool have put a passage of 30 minutes together when they are making passes and in control. It just hasn’t been there.

“But Arne Slot is the manager and when things are going wrong, people will always look to the manager to come up with solutions. He has struggled to find them. But Slot doesn’t pass the ball to the players. He can’t control that part.”

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group have been steadfast in their support of Slot this campaign with there being no suggestion from within the club they are planning without the Dutchman at present.

However, Nicol believes the Anfield hierarchy have a difficult decision to make in the coming weeks as they ramp up preparations for the transfer window.

“I’ve been in his corner until a couple of weeks ago," he said. "The fact he won the league last year means he has credit in the bank, but over the last couple of weeks it has become difficult to come up with reasons why he should stay.

“Liverpool need to spend a lot of money again. It’s not a question now of this squad turning it around. It’s too late for that. Key players are leaving, and it needs new faces on field and somebody or something to ruffle feathers up.

“That’s why Liverpool’s owners have a big question this summer: do they trust this manager with more money to spend when he can’t get a team together with the money that was spent last summer?

“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔.”

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My red colored glasses opinion which I really hope is the case… FSG made the call to Xabi, but he didn’t want to come in on a short World Cup off season with a squad that needs significant investment and adjustments.

I can’t write anything that hasn’t already been noted and debated on this fine forum, but I really don’t understand the ownership move here unless they were given a no by Alonso. Sure the grass isn’t always greener, but the grass is looking pretty brown already (even if we finish 5th). There is so much work to be done this very short offseason and trusting the clubs future with Slot is concerning. Prove me wrong Slot, prove me wrong.

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unexpected? I’ve been predicting it for the last 3-4 years! In fact we could even have sold him back in 2017 and probably got a tidy 30 million for him… :rofl:

Here’s another hot tip - VVD isn’t going to be able to perform at the same level he has done and we need to plan to replace him before 2030..

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My concern is that we have been having this discussion for a while now, if Slot stays, do we sit and hope,or more likely this seasons concerns will seem like a fireside chat.
I initially hoped Slot could turn it around but to most of us that hope has gone, and if Fsg or whoever can’t see that…

I think a lot of pundits are missing the forest from the trees. IMO it’s not that we are not going to win the CS,PL,CL,FA,LC and might only just sneak into CL position. I would still be very confident if he lost all the aforementioned trophies AND at worst had a smallish drop off. The fact of the matter is he lost everything and we are moving further away rather than showing signs of even the slightest improvement.

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I think my biggest black mark against him and probably the strongest reason to sack him is he’s had nearly a full season to work out what he’s doing with and how to get the best out of Wirtz and the lad still looks a bit lost.

£100m+ investment and the new creative fulcrum of the team and across the season you could say he’s been alright at best. There’s a hugely talented footballer there who should be our jewel in the crown and instead he’s probably sat regretting his decision not to go to Bayern.

I’d replace Slot with Xabi for no other reason than he knows how to get the best from Wirtz but there are also plenty of other reasons too.

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The best thing I can say about replacing Slot with Alonso, I’ve reached a point where I don’t think he could be any worse at this stage. At least he would be different to shake things up at least.

Not saying Alonso is up for the job in hand, far from it, but we are going nowhere fast, as a team, a squad and as a club under the tutelage of Slot. We could spiral even more…!

I believe Slot will still be in position for most of next season at least, which to us fans, could be a painful and saddening aspect if this season proves to be his level. The chasm between Slot and the fanbase might even rupture further apart…

However, if Alonso is recruited in the summer, worst scenario is that we then face three seasons of the same shit… but at least it gives us some hope until that realisation rears its head.
The upside is, Alonso might be the breath of fresh air to breeze through the entire club that we so desperately need at the moment.

100% rab. Arnes’ setup just hasn’t made good use of Flo and he could have reconfigured to a 4-4-2 which would make much more sense with the rest our squad too

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If we don’t beat Palace tomorrow, Slot will either be sacked on Monday or keep his job till next weekend. Then he will be sacked on Monday or keep his job for another week. Then he will…you get the drift.

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It feels like a yo-yoing model that has been used by the Toxic Orange.

Our Arnie :blush:

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…for what? :joy:

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Beating Everton 2-1 win a last minute goal earns Slot the performance of the week!

Shows how far we’ve fallen…

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