Liverpool have massive problem if Arne Slot is sacked after Forest nightmare | Football | Sport
That’s now two international breaks wasted by the Liverpool management. Twice in two months they’ve had a chance, while players are away with their countries, to regroup and to come up with a plan to solve this crisis. Twice Liverpool have come back and suffered a confidence-draining defeat at Anfield. First was the painful loss to Manchester United in October, now this thrashing at the hands of Nottingham Forest.
With six losses in their last seven league games, the Premier League champions are battered, bruised and look like they want the final bell. They’re mentally shot. Liverpool had a largely encouraging first 30 minutes against Forest with far more possession and eight shots to the away side’s three. But once the visitors went 1-0 up, Liverpool lost all composure – and their heads. They are extremely fragile right now and it showed again in this 90 minutes. After the first knockback, they never recovered.
This season the title-holders have gone 1-0 down in nine games across all competitions. They’ve lost eight of them, only winning away at Eintracht Frankfurt who play Kamikaze football and laid out the red carpet. The recent run of Arne Slot’s side in the Premier League since beating Everton – three points from a possible 21 – is relegation form.
From being five points ahead of Arsenal after four games, they could end this weekend 11 points behind the Gunners. Slot is not in danger of losing his job just yet but rapid improvement is needed or he will pay the price for just how easy it is to beat his team. This Liverpool are a soft touch and quite simply, at the moment, are a bad football team.
Should the Dutchman find himself unable to find the fix – the Reds face a horrible and unenviable issue. Only twice this century have Liverpool changed managers mid-season – Roy Hodgson was sacked in January 2011 and Brendan Rodgers dismissed in October 2015. Every other boss at least saw their final season out.
It is not implausible that Liverpool plunge to a position where a mid-season change of manager is required in the coming months. Slot has only got a finite amount of defeats before the credit from last season’s title triumph expires. Dealing with the death of a player and a significant squad upheaval is not easy but tactically, his team are really poor. No matter what team he picks, the problems remain. That is equal parts due to mentality problems and the fact there is no obvious style or substance to this side right now.
Yet if Slot is sacked, who do Liverpool turn to? Of the managers currently out of work – very few, if any, are a suitable fit. The Merseyside club’s hierarchy would have a hard time convincing the Kop that one of Thiago Motta, Marco Rose or Gary O’Neil is the right man for the job. Brendan Rodgers certainly won’t be coming back.
The other names on Liverpool’s list before Slot was appointed are all in a job. Sebastian Hoeness at Stuggart, Michel at Girona, Roberto De Zerbi at Marseille. Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola and Oliver Glasner, the Crystal Palace boss, would undoubtedly be two names linked if the Anfield position was vacant.
But Glasner plays with a back three which Liverpool fans won’t want to see long term even if it was a short-term help. Iraola is in the midst of a very successful Bournemouth project and convincing him to leave is one task, paying what the Cherries would demand to lose their manager mid-season is another. He also has never managed the calibre of high-profile players on Merseyside.
Other names include Simone Inzaghi, who also predominantly uses a 3-5-2, and Xabi Alonso who won’t be leaving Real Madrid any time soon. Who else is there? Jurgen Klopp, of course. But is wanting the German back simply too romantic an idea? Would Klopp actually rescue this?
His final two seasons suggest not. And is he really psychologically prepared to step back into this cauldron? He seems to be enjoying his new life. And that’s the problem – there aren’t many obvious candidates, for as much as Slot is failing to get the most out of this squad.
Fenway Sports Group will be desperately hoping the man who got so much right last year can begin to show he’s still the man for this job. But if Slot can’t, it’s difficult to see who comes in to save a Liverpool season at significant risk of going down as an absolute disaster.
