Arne Slot - Head Coach

The Albert
5562

I don’t think it’s really that outrageous to say that his Leverkusen stint was more impressive than Slot’s at Liverpool. Leverkusen is not a top tier club in the Bundesliga, and yet Xabi built them up from a side sitting in the relegation places to one which went undefeated and won the title - an impressive feat when considering Bayern Munich’s stranglehold on the league.

Obviously, Slot’s Liverpool side was better than Alonso’s Leverkusen side. But Slot inherited his team from Klopp and put together about six months of excellent performances before becoming what we see now - a side struggling to find an identity.

I don’t think the club would sack Slot just because Alonso is available. I think they’d sack Slot because of the team’s performances - and Alonso’s availability would give them an appealing option to consider as a replacement.

4 Likes
5563

I believe we’re all thinking about next summer here.

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5564

I just flat out disagree with pretty much everything here.

Think it’s sad people are now looking to play down his achievements as a way to hype up someone else.

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5565

Hmmm… the comparison is not so simple though.

Is it harder to lift a Bundesliga club to the title over Bayern Munich, or is it harder (in our high pressure Liverpool environment) to improve on razor thin margins to run away with the PL title?

I think it is the case of apples and oranges. Both were impressive and it is possible (actually likely) that neither could have pulled the other’s achievement off just as a matter of probability.

5566

I don’t totally disagree with you. It’s apples and oranges in some respects. My main point was that Alonso’s performance at Leverkusen was tremendous considering where they were when they hired him and the significant disadvantages which come with competing with Bayern Munich. There’s a reason why he was heavily linked with us back in 2024, and I assure you that it had very little to do with him being a former Liverpool player, despite what some posters have implied here.

Ultimately, Slot could put any speculation to bed with a run of form that suggests that we’ve meaningfully turned a corner and have an identity to build from.

2 Likes
5567

We are not at the end of the road with Slot. Let’s see what the rest of the season brings. If we end up stumbling along with no real identity and winning nothing, Slot will be very vulnerable to the sack. At that point, a manager like Alonso might be just the ticket, as we don’t do player power like the Real Madrid mad house, and Alonso has a clear philosophy.

But Slot won the league and deserves the chance to turn the poor showing in the first half of the season around. Let’s see.

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5568

All this chat seems a bit futile. I’d love to see Xabi as our manager at some point, but there’s zero chance of Slot getting sacked right now. Things would have to go badly wrong for him to get the boot before the summer and I’m sure nobody here wants that to happen!?

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5569

I don’t think people are suggesting that Xabi come in right now. At least I’m not. As a matter of principle, I’m generally opposed to bringing in managers mid-season unless the situation is so dire that a sacking is warranted OR the manager is so fucking good that you have to hire him when you have a chance (Klopp).

But coming this summer? Slot can control his destiny by putting together a strong second half and ending any chance he gets binned. If we see more of the same or worse, then Xabi’s availability will be Slot’s undoing.

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5570

If Slot gets us CL football he’ll be the manager come the start of next season. End of.

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5571

It might just be a good thing that Xabi is available… Not that I want to see him at Anfield while Slot still has a chance to blossom into the manger we want, but if it adds pressure on Slot and our coaching staff to leave Ibiza alone, get down from the entitled high horse some seem to be freewheeling on.
I just want us to play a type of exciting football/winning format matched by effort …
Who cares where Xabi goes if Slot produces the goods here.

3 Likes
5572

bit more than that and downplaying it does Slot a disservice.

Slots job to lose, but he has really struggled this year, and its taken FAR too long to arrest the slide, the football is abject at (far too many) times, and my biggest issue is we are still only winning games because we have a better quality player… that might sound basic, but if you understand the point i make, its quite the issue.

Alonso has the prolonged experience of big club football, big game experience, he does have a grace with the supporters ( shouldnt be downplayed), his team at Leverkusen played some brilliant football and included two of our actual current players who immensly enjoyed there time under him, hes played under some great managers and learnt from the very best…

these are all things not to be dismissed so lightly

Slot, However, in his favour, has been at the club long enough to know the ins and outs of our system, is working through his own frst ever managerial ‘slump’ so to say, and, has already got the big one in the bag.

personally, if he can unlock this issue we have with ‘low block’ teams ( its hardly a new phenom, so its a worry we seem so void of ideas) then even though its taken too long, to me he at the very least sees out the contract.

if our run in is just more of the same of what we have see … and someone like Alonso is keen…then the club have a very interesting conumdrum on thier hands…

i respect you staying in Slots corner, but i think your attacking the man not the ball in your assessment.

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5573

id say that would be the shorter odds, but certainly not an ‘end of’ debate finisher you are making it out to be.

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5574

It seems that the first domino has fallen..Alonso will probably take a rest from the fiasco at the bernabeu..

I cannot see slot continuing to the end of the season if he doesn’t start winning games…Drawing too much league games will be the difference between UCL and UEL…

5575

11 unbeaten

3 Likes
5576

I have doubts about that. If this turgid brand of football continues until May it will have meant that we have been playing that way for over a year. A conversation will have to held over his suitability for the job at that point and with one year on his contract at that time, that conversation is pretty much guaranteed to go ahead anyway.

Rafa came in after the team had qualified for the Champions League because by that time it was clear that Houllier had taken the team as far as he could, as an example. Different time, perhaps, but the point is that there are always signs for when a manager has done all he can and continuing the season as it has gone would be a big, neon one Champions League qualification or not

10 Likes
5577

Slot will need to comfortably qualify for the UCL and probably make the latter stages of the champions league in order to have a chance of staying for the next season.

Winning the FA cup might give him more time as well. The point is that we shouldn’t be playing this dire football.

1 Like
5578

Winning because of the players, rather than in spite of what you have to work with?

5579

no.

think of Man City as the extreme example.

they have the pick of the best players in the world, yet they dont win games becuase they simply have better players, they win games becuase they are a better team.

Klopps Liverpool were a great example.

Mo Salah didnt score all those goals simple off the back of being a good player, he had a team that made him the player he is.

a team should be greater than the sum of its parts.

9 Likes
5580

I think we’re all a bit guilty of projecting our feeling about the manager and the idea of change into our predictions of what it will take for him to keep his job.

That’s what I think you are doing here, at least as much as me when I say I think he’ll be the manager next year regardless of anything as long as he gets back in the CL.

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5581

The thought of having to watch another year of slow-paced possession football after this season does not make me happy. The man plays football not to lose rather than to win.

As far as I’m concerned, he should leave this month, or else definitely in the summer.

1 Like