Should Liverpool sack Slot? Weighing the arguments for and against

And so the cycle begins again. No sooner had the full-time whistle sounded at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon than yet another inquest into Liverpool‘s troubles was launched on social media.

Considering the club’s latest defeat — a 3-2 loss at Manchester United — was their 19th of the season in all competitions, this is, by now, a familiar dance. Forensic analysis of each setback often yields the same talking points: misfiring forwards, a sluggish midfield and a disjointed defence are all contributing factors in Liverpool’s hugely underwhelming Premier League title defence.

But while a conflation of several issues has shaped the course of this tumultuous campaign, it is head coach Arne Slot who is more often than not painted as the primary villain.

“How can those supporting him still defend him?” one prominent Liverpool fan account asked its 144,000 followers on X, alongside a rap sheet of this season’s most damning statistics.

Losing twice to bitter rivals United in the league for the first time in a decade is one of the charges, as is suffering two top-flight defeats to Manchester City for the first time since the 1936-37 campaign.

For Slot, the cold, hard facts do not make for pleasant reading, although the aforementioned post makes no mention of the fact he led Liverpool to the Premier League title last term, nor does it highlight any of the mitigation — of which there has been plenty — for the Reds’ turbulent season.

Both of those factors will resonate with owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who have maintained their support for Slot throughout the many trials and tribulations of the past nine months and would like to give him the opportunity to prove he is still the man to lead Liverpool forward.

But, with every poor result — and every corresponding shaky performance — prompting a groundswell of discontent within the fanbase, are Liverpool’s decision-makers right to persist with the Dutchman beyond this season?

ESPN takes a look at the reasons for and against Slot staying in his post.

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FOR: Slot is a title winner

The most compelling case for Slot continuing as Liverpool’s head coach is a fairly simple one: he won the Premier League last season. With speculation over the future of City boss Pep Guardiola continuing to gain traction, there is a chance that Slot is the only Premier League-winning coach left in the division when the 2026-27 campaign gets underway in August.

While Slot’s detractors, including some within his own fanbase, might try to downplay the scale of that achievement, winning the title is no easy feat. Liverpool have only done so twice in the past 36 years, while the fact that Arsenal have struggled to fully shake off City in their pursuit of this season’s trophy — having finished second in each of the last three campaigns — is a testament to just how difficult it is to get over the line.

Those decrying Liverpool’s most recent title triumph might argue the Reds only amassed a tally of 84 points — the lowest winning points total since Leicester City’s 81 in 2015-16 — but they had the title wrapped up with four games to spare. Could they have notched a higher total had they not taken their foot of the gas in those final games>

The argument that Slot won the title with Jürgen Klopp’s team also does not stand up to scrutiny, seeing as the general consensus was that Liverpool were destined for immediate decline following Klopp’s departure in the summer of 2024.

Last term, Slot showed he was capable of bringing the best out of several players who had fallen out of favour under his predecessor — such as Ryan Gravenberch, Ibrahima Konaté and Cody Gakpo — en route to Liverpool’s title win. Even Mohamed Salah, whose individual brilliance contributed enormously to the Reds’ success, recently described last season as his best for the club, with his outspoken agent, Ramy Abas Issa, last year taking to social media to declare Slot as being “excellent at his job.”

While the Dutchman has not been able to inspire his squad to reach similar heights this term, his track record of developing players is largely very good.

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Nicol: Liverpool look ‘absolutely lost’ under Arne Slot

Steve Nicol slams Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United and suggests Xabi Alonso as a replacement for Arne Slot.

AGAINST: Liverpool’s title defence has been terrible

Again, this argument is a pretty straightforward one: Liverpool have lost 18 games in all competitions this season.

Even with all of the added context, it is a startling number for a team that won the title by a 10-point margin last season and were predicted in some quarters to be similarly dominant this term.

It is the most defeats Liverpool have suffered in a single campaign since 2014-15, after which FSG stuck by manager Brendan Rodgers only to sack him two months into the new season when form failed to improve. The inevitable parallels with the final days of the Rodgers era are doing little to aid Slot’s cause.

While Liverpool historically are not trigger-happy when it comes to hiring and firing coaches, there is precedent within the Premier League for managers being relieved of their duties shortly after winning the title.

Claudio Ranieri was sacked in 2016-17, just nine months after his improbable triumph with relegation favourites Leicester, while both Jose Mourinho and Roberto Mancini were dismissed by Chelsea and Manchester City, respectively, after failing to mount convincing title defences.

It is also worth noting that, before this season, Slot had never in his managerial career lost two league games in a row. While that speaks to the Dutchman’s successes elsewhere, it also means he has never found himself in a situation like this one, where there is enormous pressure on him to turn things around.

Different managers have different specialities, and Slot has not yet shown himself to be the kind of coach capable of turning the tide when the chips are down.

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Nicol: Liverpool defensively are a shambles

Steve Nicol slams Liverpool’s defensive display after their 3-2 defeat to Man United.

FOR: Slot can point to lots of mitigation

When teamsheets were circulated at Old Trafford on Sunday, one player was conspicuous by his absence. Alexander Isak had reminded everyone of his quality with his instinctive strike against Crystal Palace the previous weekend but did not make the trip to Manchester due to a minor groin problem sustained in training.

It is reflective of the Sweden international’s turbulent debut season at Anfield that it took just eight days for a rare flicker of optimism to be emphatically snuffed out. Isak has struggled for both form and fitness since his British-record move from Newcastle United last summer, having only returned from nearly four months out with a broken fibula in April.

His absence against United would perhaps not have been so keenly felt had fellow summer signing Hugo Ekitike not also been sidelined with an Achilles injury that is expected to keep him out for at least nine months, while Salah is still recovering from the muscle problem he picked up against Palace.

At the other end of the pitch, injuries to both Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili meant a starting place for third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, while midfielder Curtis Jones filled in at right-back.

Understandably, much has been made of Liverpool’s £450 million spending spree in last summer’s transfer window, but the fact that the three headline signings — Isak, Ekitike and Florian Wirtz — have only shared a pitch for 119 minutes this term illustrates the Reds’ continued injury misfortune.

As head coach, the final word on recruitment does not lie with Slot and therefore he cannot be held primarily responsible for the glaring gaps in his squad, particularly in wide areas following the departure of Luis Díaz to Bayern Munich last summer.

With Liverpool looking to plug some of those gaps in the upcoming transfer window, there is a scenario where Slot is able to succeed with a more well-balanced squad next term.

Away from matters on the pitch, the biggest mitigation for this season’s struggles is the unfathomable tragedy of last summer, when striker Diogo Jota was killed in a car crash in July alongside his brother, André Silva.

The impact of Jota’s loss is unquantifiable and in no way absolves Slot and his players for some of their abysmal showings this term. Slot has always been quick to rightly point out that the loss of Jota will be felt most profoundly by his family but, in a season where Liverpool’s psychological frailties have regularly been questioned, it would be disingenuous to suggest the tragedy has not affected the Dutchman and his squad whatsoever.

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Slot: VAR decisions have gone against Liverpool all season

Arne Slot hits out at VAR after Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat against Manchester United in the Premier League.

AGAINST: Liverpool aren’t learning from mistakes

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results — or so the saying goes. Certainly, Liverpool have been guilty of repeatedly falling into the same trap this season, with familiar problems too often rearing their heads.

Slot has spoken in recent weeks about the progress made over the course of the campaign and the bright future that lies ahead for his team. His assertion, however, does not quite marry up with reality.

Against United on Sunday, Liverpool at times looked every bit as naive, tactically confused and underprepared as they did in the reverse fixture at Anfield in October, which the Reds lost 2-1.

It was obvious that United would look to start quickly at Old Trafford and try to exploit Liverpool’s weaknesses defending set-pieces and in transition. It is alarming, then, that Slot’s side appeared to have no strategy to combat this gameplan during a shambolic opening period in which they conceded two goals in the space of 14 minutes via both of those avenues.

It is impossible to define Liverpool’s current identity without simply describing a team that is consistently less than the sum of its parts.

The defeat to United means the Reds have taken just two points from an available 24 away from home against teams in the top half of the table. It would perhaps be easier for fans to accept such disappointing results if there were signs of Slot’s side learning from their mistakes but so far there has been little cause for encouragement.

FOR: Patience is sometimes a virtue

When Chelsea beat Wolves in February, Liam Rosenior became just the second English manager in history to win all of his first four Premier League games in charge. The benefits of injecting fresh perspective into an underperforming team were obvious … until they weren’t.

Fast forward to April and Rosenior had been given his marching orders less than four months into a five-and-a-half-year contract, having overseen five consecutive league defeats. Chelsea’s situation gives credence to the idea that managerial changes are not always a guarantee of sustained success.

While Michael Carrick has done an excellent job at Old Trafford since taking charge — overseeing 10 wins from 14 games — United are well-versed in the struggles of replacing an iconic manager, having cycled through six permanent coaches in the 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.

Cast your mind back to the 2021-22 campaign and Mikel Arteta — who could this term lead Arsenal to an historic double — found himself under intense pressure after beginning the season with a run of three league defeats, while it took Klopp until his fourth season at the helm to have Liverpool convincingly challenging for the title.

In both of those cases, perseverance proved the best course of action. With Slot likely to follow up last season’s Premier League success with Champions League qualification in the coming weeks, it could be argued that he at least deserves a chance to fulfill the final year of his contract at Anfield.

AGAINST: He’s not Klopp … or Xabi Alonso

As head coach, Slot has the power to influence many things at Liverpool. Unfortunately for him, the one variable he cannot control is arguably the one that most complicates his assignment.

Put plainly, he is not Jürgen Klopp. Slot’s predecessor set an impossibly high bar during his nine years in the dugout, not only in terms of results but also in the relationship he forged with supporters.

Outspoken and peerlessly charismatic, Klopp’s superpower was his ability to unite the fanbase in times of adversity — a gift which, in turn, saw him granted grace when the going got tough.

Slot was lauded for his more understated demeanour when Liverpool were successful last season but, in the eyes of some, his emotional connection with the fans lacks sufficient depth to see him now command unwavering loyalty. That the Dutchman jokingly asked reporters at the AXA Training Centre last week whether he should be held responsible for the Strait of Hormuz being closed is indicative of the extreme — and, in some instances, vitriolic — criticism he has been the subject of this season.

There has been much debate externally about Slot’s standing in the eyes of the dressing room, largely fuelled by Salah’s incendiary interview in December in which he admitted to a breakdown in his relationship with the head coach. It is pertinent to note that Salah also had his misgivings with Klopp at the end of his reign — prompting an infamous outburst on the touchline at West Ham United — but he never felt empowered to speak out publicly against him, perhaps deterred by the knowledge it was a battle he would not win.

But if Klopp is a spectre of Liverpool’s past, it is Xabi Alonso’s return to the managerial market that has most haunted Slot in recent months. The fan-favourite choice to replace Klopp in 2024, Alonso’s emotional ties to Liverpool — having won the UEFA Champions League with the club as a player in 2005 — would make him a hugely popular appointment, with some match-going supporters even singing his name after the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad last month.

Ultimately, the modern football landscape leaves little room for nuance and plenty for hyperbole. Every manager is beholden to their most recent results, walking a constant tightrope between fraudulence and genius.

Slot’s CV shows he resides much closer to the latter camp than the former, though that does not mean his position should not be questioned. He has hemorrhaged support over the course of this torrid campaign and, while next term could provide a clean slate, the potential for things to turn toxic remains.

For example, what happens if Liverpool, as they did in Slot’s first season, lose at home to Nottingham Forest in gameweek four? Would fans be prepared to show him the same grace he was afforded in the early months of his Anfield career? It seems unlikely.

Of course, the final decision lies not with the supporters but with sporting director Richard Hughes and his superiors. So far, they have shown they are prepared to give Slot a fair crack of the whip.

But, with the odds stacked against the Liverpool boss, they must now consider whether the fair decision is the same as the right one.