Arne Slot Issues Stern Reminder to Fans Over Liverpool Slump

The Reds have fallen off following last season’s Premier League title victory.

Arne Slot is under immense pressure. | Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted last season’s Premier League title victory may have “postponed” the slump most fans were expecting following the end of the Jürgen Klopp era.

Backed to oversee a transitional season last year after replacing the legendary German, Slot exceeded expectations with a stunning run to the Premier League title, but the Reds have come crashing back down to earth this year and Slot is fighting for his job under immense pressure.

“It is normal in football that you have cycles,” Slot explained.

“The good thing when you have a cycle, and has also happened the opposite way, is that Mo [Salah] and Robbo [Andy Robertson] have announced they are leaving, but when they came in they worked with other players as well.

“I’m really happy that Mo and Robbo have worked with all of the signings we did last summer because they have been able to see what the club means to them and how hard they work.

“That is a normal process at successful clubs, or any club, that there is an end to a cycle. That’s not something that is new to us. The great thing is that we maybe postponed that cycle with last season.”

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Overachieving Could Cost Slot His Job

Slot was riding high 12 months ago. | Sebastian Frej/Getty Images

There have been many criticisms of Slot this season, but the Dutchman does have a point here.

When Slot replaced Klopp at the end of the 2023–24 season, nobody expected Liverpool to be immediately competitive. Losing one of the club’s greatest-ever managers, coupled with the arrival of a young boss with no Premier League experience, seemed guaranteed to be a messy combination.

Clearly, that was not the case, and Slot’s ability to oversee a run to the Premier League title left many believing there would be no end to the good times, particularly as the Reds were actually better in Slot’s debut year than they were in Klopp’s last.

That form was evidently unsustainable and Slot is battling to prove he deserves time to fix the situation.

One of the primary accusations facing Slot is that the title triumph came with the team built by Klopp. This year, after spending close to $600 million (£446 million) on new signings to build his own squad, things have fallen apart.

The facts do speak for themselves in that regard, but the impact of the passage of time must also be acknowledged. Mohamed Salah is now 33, Andy Robertson recently turned 32 and Virgil van Dijk will be 35 this summer, and concerns over an aging core were prominent long before Slot took charge at Anfield.

A transition away from that group was, as Slot points out, always inevitable.

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