Arne Slot has lost five of his last six matches as Liverpool head coach, but how much pressure should he be under?
The Reds were yet again a shadow of their former selves on Saturday evening, losing 3-2 at Brentford and arguably deserving to be defeated by a wider margin.
Here, This Is Anfield’s Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) and Joanna Durkan (@JoannaDurkan_) dissect Liverpool’s latest defeat and discuss how much pressure Slot is under.
Was there anything remotely positive to take from this?
HENRY: I think it may be Dom and Dom only!
He has been a credit all season, giving his all while others around him flounder, and he didn’t deserve to be on the losing team. Curtis did quite well in patches, too.
But ultimately, this was another appalling performance from a Reds side who are seemingly getting worse with each league game. Yes, we thrashed Frankfurt, but they couldn’t have made life much easier for us.
Where do you start with identifying what the biggest problem is? There are too many to mention.
Kerkez was a disaster, despite his goal, and Bradley wasn’t much better, with full-back a huge area of concern all season.
Salah may have scored a Goal of the Season contender, but he looked completely disengaged throughout, and I am almost concerned about his general well-being.
Wirtz and Ekitike were largely anonymous; the team as a unit were so easy to get through, and there is an alarming lack of fight on show every game.
This is a team continually doing dumb things, and it felt like about four of the players were deliberately trying to give away throw-ins in dangerous areas!
Then there’s Slot, whose substitutions are looking more panicky by the week, and who looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
JOANNA: I have to agree with you when it comes to Dom, Henry! If only we could clone him 10 times we might be in a better spot than we are.
It is not the fact that we are losing, it is how we are losing which is incredibly worrisome – and that Slot has even admitted he has yet to find an answer.
We are not physical enough; too many players shirk out of challenges and those 50-50s then end up going the way of the other team, and we’re so easy to play through.
And don’t get me started on the confusing and chaotic changes that Slot makes. I used to throw on all my forwards on FIFA when I was desperate, didn’t exactly work for me then and it isn’t for Slot now!
What was most bemusing on Saturday, though, was when he took Bradley off and moved Dom to right-back, only to then take Wirtz off late on and move Dom back into midfield with Gomez at right-back – why not just do that in the first place?!
Is Slot now under genuine pressure?
HENRY: The lack of patience in modern football is something I hate, with managers and players written off far too early.
So any talk of Slot being sacked is nonsensical, considering he delivered the Premier League title just five months ago, when very few expected him to.
That said, he is definitely under genuine pressure – frankly, you have to be if you lose five games out of six as Liverpool boss.
The Reds are actually lucky to be where they are in the table, given the unconvincing early-season wins, so Slot can at least be thankful about that.
If the bad results continue, it will only inevitably lead to one thing eventually, but I think a corner will be turned at some point.
Slot is having to contend with big players being either injured or out of form, and new signings adjusting to life at Anfield, and it feels like the season of transition is coming a year later than expected.
JOANNA: Liverpool are not a club that sacks a manager hastily, that they have had 22 managers (21 full-time) since 1892 exemplifies just that.
But it is not to say Slot is not under pressure, far from it. As you say Henry, losing five of the last six is not acceptable at Liverpool, especially in the manner we have lost the matches.
For me, he needs to have a plan and stick to it – for right or wrong. If we’re confused watching on as to who is where at any given point, you can only imagine it’s the same for the players.
Liverpool are currently incredibly disjointed and Slot must become ruthless with his team selection.
He needs to pick the form players and the ones who can perform consistently. He was doing it last season but the constant selection of Kerkez over Robbo, for me, shows he’s lost sight of that.
You have to have confidence we’ll turn it around, but it is a painful watch in the meantime when you are not sure when it will ‘click’.
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