Plenty of former Liverpool players turned pundits are reluctant to call for Slot’s dismissal, arguing that his position will only become untenable if the Reds fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League. However, we’re already way past that point.
In reality, Liverpool should have made a change by now – if not in November after a historically bad run of results, then during the international break on the back of the embarrassing Premier League loss at Brighton.
The board’s inaction has ended up costing Liverpool what chance they had of winning some silverware this season, as they’ve since suffered 4-0 losses in the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League, to Manchester City and PSG, respectively. It’s simply not good enough – just like Slot’s team selections for both legs against PSG.
In Paris, he betrayed his principles – and the club – with a disgracefully negative approach summed up by the most ill-advised switch to a back five in football history. At Anfield, he effectively wasted the entire first half with his equally ludicrous decision to start Alexander Isak (which was grossly unfair on the half-fit forward), while once again leaving both Mohamed Salah and Rio Ngumoha on the bench.
There can be no way back for Slot now. He is clearly not the right man to get the best out of this squad and fifth place is not an acceptable return on last summer’s unprecedented investment in a title-winning team.
Speaking after the game, Slot once again tried to attribute some blame for his squad’s shortcomings to the club’s recruitment strategy but the buck stops with the manager and the bottom line is that the Reds have got worse since they last got knocked out of the Champions League – not better.
For that reason alone, Tuesday should be his last European night at Anfield as Liverpool coach. This sorry show has been allowed to go on for far too long and everyone knows it, whether they want to admit it or not.
