Arne Slot has defiantly vowed to ‘fight on’ as Liverpool head coach amid a prolonged slump for the Reds.
The 4-1 thrashing at home to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night was the Merseysiders’ ninth defeat in 12 games, prompting some journalists to claim that the Dutchman might now have ‘one week’ to save his job amid an upcoming triple header of Premier League games in seven days.
However, Lewis Steele reported on Thursday that the 47-year-old retains the backing of the Anfield hierarchy, albeit with the realisation that he’s under pressure to instigate a turnaround in form quickly.
Slot has spoken with Liverpool hierarchy today
Slot addressed the media this afternoon ahead of Sunday’s fixture against West Ham, and the press conference began with him being asked if he’s spoken to sporting director Richard Hughes and the Liverpool hierarchy since the PSV game.
The Reds’ head coach replied (via Liverpool FC on YouTube): “We’ve had the same conversations that we’ve had since I’ve been here. We fight on and we try to improve. That’s what we all try [to do], but the conversations have been the same as they’ve been for the last year-and-a-half.”
Slot knows he needs results very quickly
While publicly the 47-year-old remains defiant, the media scrutiny will intensify if the Premier League champions fail to beat 17th-placed West Ham at the weekend, with the promoted duo of Sunderland and Leeds to follow later next week.
It’s not a common occurrence for Liverpool to dismiss a manager mid-season; it’s only happened twice since the turn of the century (Roy Hodgson in January 2011 and Brendan Rodgers in October 2015), and FSG might continue to afford Slot some patience after what he achieved last season.
However, it’s not unknown for coaches to be sacked within a year of winning the Premier League, and the nature of the beat is that past achievements count for little if the present tense seems irrevocably miserable.
Slot will crack on as the Reds’ head coach for the time being, but the credit that he had in the bank from last season is rapidly running out. He and his players need to respond on Sunday – no excuses.
You can watch Slot’s full post-PSV press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
Yes arne, this is no longer laughing matter as we lost twice in a matter of few days at anfield, conceding 7 goals and scoring just 1 in our home turf. We fans always have our say on what we think or what we expect. As the head coach, arne slot knows best what is happening with his team. If someone is no longer playing with the best interest for Liverpool, he should voice that out to edwards and Hughes and prepare the outs and ins replacement in January. To always exclude Robertson and Gomez, there must be a good reason for that and I clearly do not doubt both of their commitment and heart to play for Liverpool.
I said a few days ago that slot has three games to save his job and it’s looking likely that if things don’t improve in the next week slot will be out of a job.
West ham, Sunderland and Leeds.
When you are this bad it’s difficult to come out of it, confidence has gone, key players are making mistakes and we are chasing games which makes us even more open. Unfortunately the manager will get the brunt of the blame, if he does get sacked then Edwards and Hughes must also be sacked.
At least the assistant’s coatch re-defending should go. Give van dieck and Konata a break, then build the team back. Keep the same players on is a mistake now, keep the last year structure. Only play new player in second half, all other team aware of playing the ball to Salah, so you need to change attacking plan, and study other teams before playing
Could this be a coincidence that our defending got worse with the departure of Johnny heitinga?