Boudewijn Zenden has come out strongly in defence of one major figure at Liverpool who he feels ‘deserves respect’ amid considerable external scrutiny of late.
Having romped to Premier League glory in his first year in charge of the Reds, Arne Slot is finding his sophomore season rather more difficult, with his side already beaten six times in the current top-flight campaign and currently languishing in 10th, a full 10 points behind leaders Arsenal.
A dismal 4-1 thrashing at home to PSV Eindhoven a fortnight ago even had Jamie Carragher suggesting that the head coach had one week to save his job, although LFC are unbeaten in four matches since then, most recently pulling off an impressive win away to Inter Milan this week.
Nonetheless, Rio Ferdinand recently seemed to make the case for Steven Gerrard to be considered as a potential interim replacement if Liverpool were to pull the trigger on Slot, but Zenden disagreed with that notion.
Zenden: Slot ‘deserves respect’
Speaking exclusively to Empire of the Kop (via BetVictor), the former Reds winger insisted that talk of the incumbent head coach being replaced is disrespectful, particularly after what he accomplished last season.
The 49-year-old said: “We have to look at two things here. Steven Gerrard is a legend. He’s a massive player. He’s been a manager already on a few occasions and has done particularly well with Rangers, but to talk about a replacement as long as someone’s in the job, I don’t feel that’s right.
“Arne Slot does not deserve that. He deserves respect. People should not talk about this kind of thing while he’s still very much in the job.”
Slot not immune from scrutiny but still has fans’ firm backing
It’s perfectly fine to be critical of Slot in some aspects this season (e.g. persevering with underperforming players, ill-judged substitutions and team selections, peculiar press conference quotes), but Zenden is right in saying that the head coach still deserves the full respect of every Liverpool fan.
Tactical flaws might be on the 47-year-old, but he can’t be held accountable for baffling individual errors by individuals on the pitch, such as the crazy, game-changing penalty given away by Ibrahima Konate at Leeds last weekend.
Also, the tactician has had to deal with the most arduous challenge that any Premier League boss has faced, namely the tragic death of an existing squad member in Diogo Jota, and he’s handled that horrific situation with the utmost dignity and grace.
Slot isn’t immune from scrutiny and Liverpool’s current top-flight position is nowhere near good enough, but that shouldn’t open the head coach to personal ridicule or a media agenda calling for his sacking.
Thankfully, the Reds supporters who travelled to the San Siro in midweek made it unmistakably clear that they’re still firmly behind the Dutchman and are ready and willing to show him the ‘respect’ for which Zenden has rightly called.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Inter Milan press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
I appreciate slot’s initiative to speak to Salah this morning UK time. Whether he likes it or not, Salah playing well will only help him secure his job. It is silly to think a player who broke records after records last season will just suddenly lose it all. As we have seen too often, you need not be friends off the pitch but as long as you perform professionally on the pitch, the team can still be a success.
Does zenden feel the same way about every manager. I never heard him saying Erik ten hag deserves respect when he was getting criticism. Or the other Dutch manager’s who failed in the premier league.
Yes we thank slot for last season, even though most of the credit should have gone to klopp for what he left behind. Especially when he did it with a low net spend and being forced to sell his best player’s.
No Liverpool fan looks to criticise the manager, we all want the same thing, Liverpool football club being successful. But the massive drop in performance levels and results this season are more than just a concern. When you spend 450 million you can’t moan about criticism when we’ve been so bad. No Liverpool manager in our entire history has had so much money and has wasted it. Liverpool supporters have every right to be angry. Slot must get top four this season or he must get sacked. The minimum champions league football next season. That’s not asking much with the squad we’ve got and what slot inherited from klopp.