It was a 12-second spell that summed up Liverpool’s season. With the hosts trying to find a late winner towards Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday night time, Florian Wirtz lofted a hopeful ball into the guests field, solely to see it look off the pinnacle of Ibrahima Konaté and sail into the gloves of Robin Roefs.
The Sunderland goalkeeper shortly noticed a chance to inflict additional harm on the flailing Premier League champions and launched Wilson Isidor with a protracted ball, who charged from inside his personal half towards Liverpool’s objective. Simply when it appeared like the web was destined to bulge, up popped substitute Federico Chiesa to clear Isidor’s shot off the road and spare the Reds the ignominy of a tenth defeat in 14 video games in all competitions.
However whereas the Italy worldwide’s intervention might need prevented Liverpool’s season from plummeting to a determined new nadir, Wednesday night time’s 1-1 draw with Regis Le Bris’s newly promoted facet provided few indicators that head coach Arne Slot has found the antidote to his group’s startling malaise.
It was only some brief months in the past that the Dutchman was being hailed because the modern-day incarnation of legendary Liverpool boss Bob Paisley, who constructed a dynasty at Anfield after taking the reins from the talismanic Invoice Shankly within the Nineteen Seventies. In some quarters in latest weeks, Slot has been extra generally likened to Roy Hodgson, whose ill-fated stint as supervisor lasted simply 31 video games earlier than he was sacked through the 2010-2011 season.
After all, such comparisons are preposterous contemplating Slot’s standing as a Premier League winner, however it’s inconceivable to disregard the truth that the shape ebook doesn’t make for nice studying for the 47-year-old. Having gained the title at a canter final season and spent a record-breaking £450 million in the summertime switch market, many had Slot’s facet earmarked because the overwhelming favorites to high the desk once more this time period.
However, with a 3rd of the marketing campaign now performed, Liverpool’s bid to retain their crown grows much less convincing by the week and Slot — for the primary time in his managerial profession — finds himself beneath actual strain.
So the place has all of it gone so improper for the Dutchman? And the place do Liverpool go from right here?
PSV defeat a ‘breaking level second’ for some
Following Liverpool’s spectacular collapse to lose 4-1 towards PSV Eindhoven within the UEFA Champions League final week, the exterior clamors for Slot to be dismissed turned nearly deafening.
Nonetheless, Slot was sometimes unflappable when grilled on his future within the ensuing days, insisting that he nonetheless retained the help of the Liverpool hierarchy, together with sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports activities Group (FSG) CEO of Soccer Michael Edwards.
“Now we have had the identical conversations since I used to be right here,” he mentioned in a information convention final Friday. “We struggle on, we attempt to enhance — that is what all of us attempt. However the conversations have been the identical as since I used to be right here.”
One supply has advised ESPN that the defeat towards PSV was a “breaking-point second” amongst some throughout the membership which, though not a loss that confirmed Slot’s destiny, was a end result that raised considerations that had not beforehand surfaced through the poor outcomes and performances going into that recreation.
That mentioned, the actual fact stays that Liverpool aren’t a sacking membership and there may be an acknowledgment from these contained in the corridors of energy that the group’s stoop doesn’t relaxation squarely on Slot’s shoulders. Even regardless of Liverpool’s latest run, the Dutchman’s win proportion of 63% is the best of any supervisor within the membership’s historical past and he stays simply the second Reds boss within the Premier League period to win the title.
When the Liverpool hierarchy have been within the technique of hiring Jurgen Klopp’s successor within the spring of 2024, they compiled a 60-page file outlining why Slot was the excellent candidate and offered him with this knowledge at his household dwelling within the Dutch metropolis of Zwolle. That meticulous analysis proved prophetic when the previous Feyenoord boss led Liverpool to high flight glory on the first time of asking final time period however, after successful simply 4 of his final 14 video games, Slot seems to have misplaced the Midas contact.
Wednesday night time’s draw with Sunderland means Liverpool have did not win three successive video games at Anfield for the primary time since March 2021, once they have been winless for a sequence of eight matches through the COVID-19 pandemic. That the Reds’ present dismal run doesn’t include the caveat of no followers within the stands is a priority, although Slot has rejected the concept that Liverpool’s well-known outdated stadium has misplaced its worry issue.
1:38
Is Virgil van Dijk in charge for Sunderland’s objective vs. Liverpool?
Steve Nicol explains Virgil van Dijk’s accountability on Sunderland’s objective as Liverpool rescue a 1-1 draw towards The Black Cats.
“No, not Anfield, for positive,” he mentioned. “However it’s clear that groups that play us now suppose they will get a end result. Not solely suppose, as a result of that has been proven this season. And even within the video games we have gained, in addition they fueled the arrogance for different groups like, ‘Hmm, one thing is feasible’ as a result of the wins we had at the start of the season weren’t simple ones as effectively.”
Certainly, the truth that Liverpool’s convincing performances this season have been few and much between ought to be extra of a priority for Slot than the outcomes themselves.
On Wednesday, Slot mentioned he was not stunned by the way in which Sunderland approached the sport and but his group have been not often capable of bother Roefs within the opposition objective, with simply 4 of their 23 pictures hitting the goal.
Maybe probably the most damning side of the night was Le Bris’ postmatch feedback, with the Frenchman suggesting his group have been shocked by Liverpool’s typically passive and ponderous show.
“We have been possibly a bit stunned to have managed the sport,” he advised membership media. “So, we advised the gamers to consider and push extra as a result of it was potential to attain.”
With Liverpool’s listless performances solely serving to embolden the opposition, the champions’ aura of infallibility — and that of their head coach — has been vastly dented.
Slot not the one one in charge for Liverpool’s rotten run
Whereas Liverpool’s type has not been adequate this season, it will be disingenuous to recommend that the entire membership’s woes are all the way down to Slot.
Regardless of their summer time of heavy spending, the Reds’ squad lacks the depth and stability of leaders Arsenal, who at the moment are overwhelming favorites to win the title. In protection, the collapsed deadline day transfer for Crystal Palace middle again Marc Guéhi seems to be extra pricey by the day, with each Konate and captain Virgil van Dijk having regarded means wanting their greatest this time period and new signing Giovanni Leoni sidelined with an ACL damage.
Sources advised ESPN that Palace chairman Steve Parish initially accepted Liverpool’s £35 million ($47.4 million) provide to signal Guehi, with the participant having been granted permission to have a medical, earlier than withdrawing from the deal on the eleventh hour after being unable to safe a alternative. Had Liverpool moved earlier within the window, although, such an eventuality may have been averted.
In assault, Liverpool look to be missing tempo and guile out large, with the choice to sanction the €75 million exit of Luis Díaz — who has already scored 12 objectives for Bayern Munich this season — now seeming more and more ill-advised. Sources advised ESPN the Reds have been initially reluctant to let the Colombia worldwide depart, rebuffing advances from Barcelona early within the switch window, earlier than ultimately accepting Bayern’s bid.
One supply advised ESPN the participant had been “decided” to depart Anfield, having beforehand been open to a brand new problem in the summertime of 2024. With that in thoughts, recouping such a major charge for a participant who turns 29 in January made sense from a enterprise perspective, however the determination to not supply a like-for-like alternative has undoubtedly hindered Liverpool this season.
The view from inside Anfield was that bringing in one other senior left winger may block the pathway of prodigious teenager Rio Ngumoha, who scored the successful objective for Liverpool of their dramatic 3-2 victory over Newcastle United again in August. Nonetheless, the truth that the 17-year-old has performed simply 41 Premier League minutes since that match-winning cameo means that, understandably, he isn’t but able to be an everyday starter on the highest degree.
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Lindop: Liverpool ‘shellshocked’ by latest outcomes
Beth Lindop talks about Arne Slot’s place at Liverpool amid the membership’s run of poor type following their 4-1 defeat to PSV within the Champions League.
Liverpool’s struggles out large would maybe be much less of a difficulty if striker Alexander Isak had been capable of hit the bottom working on Merseyside following his acrimonious £125 million transfer from Newcastle. Nonetheless, the 26-year-old has paid the worth for his determination to go on strike in a bid to pressure the transfer and has struggled for each type and health at Anfield, scoring simply twice in 12 appearances in all competitions.
One supply advised ESPN that the Sweden worldwide has earned himself comparisons to Fernando Torres, who endured a equally unconvincing begin to his Chelsea profession following a £50 million transfer from Liverpool in 2011. Torres by no means discovered his type at Stamford Bridge and proved to be one of the vital costly flops in Premier League historical past.
Sources accustomed to Liverpool’s recruitment group have advised ESPN that knowledge exhibits that strikers not often get better from a foul first season at a brand new membership, though Roberto Firmino’s prolonged seek for a primary objective for Liverpool following his transfer from Hoffenheim in 2015 — the Brazilian waited 14 video games for his first objective and began with only one objective in his first 25 appearances — provides proof that some strikers can ultimately come good.
After all, in amongst all of Liverpool’s difficulties on the pitch, it should even be famous that Slot is having to steer his group by an unimaginable tragedy following the demise of beloved striker Diogo Jota in the summertime. The Dutchman has repeatedly made clear that neither he nor his gamers want to use the ahead’s demise as an excuse however, whereas it’s inconceivable to quantify the impression of Jota’s loss, it’s not unfair to recommend it has taken a toll on the squad.
Mohamed Salah — whose decline this time period has offered one other headache for Slot — broke down in tears on the pitch following the opening day victory over Bournemouth at Anfield, whereas defender Andy Robertson was visibly emotional when talking about Jota’s demise following Scotland’s qualification for the FIFA World Cup final month.
The scenario doesn’t absolve Slot or his gamers of all accountability for his or her to this point disappointing marketing campaign, however it does provide some mitigation and makes the discourse surrounding the pinnacle coach’s future all of the extra uncomfortable.
Per week for Slot to avoid wasting his job?
Forward of Liverpool’s journey to West Ham United on Sunday, former Reds defender Jamie Carragher asserted that Slot had “per week to avoid wasting his job.”
Writing in The Each day Telegraph, Carragher mentioned: “Something fewer than seven factors will make an already unacceptable scenario untenable.”
Whereas membership legend Carragher is after all not the barometer for sentiment inside Anfield, his argument felt like a sound one, with assignments towards West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds United providing Liverpool the prospect to construct some much-needed momentum.
A victory over Leeds on Saturday would see Slot and his group attain that seven-point threshold and would possible be sufficient to permit some strain to recede, not less than till Tuesday night time’s tough Champions League conflict with Inter Milan at San Siro.
Whereas Anfield was stressed at instances Wednesday night time, there was no repeat of the audible dissent that adopted the defeat to PSV, when a smattering of boos might be heard across the stadium. It was notable towards West Ham that the away supporters sang Slot’s title, even earlier than his group established a 2-0 lead over Nuno Espirito Santo’s facet on the London Stadium.
That present of fealty is more likely to be repeated when Liverpool journey to Elland Street on Saturday to face a Leeds group buoyed by their spectacular 3-1 victory over title contenders Chelsea. Nonetheless, if Slot is unable to search out the solutions his group so desperately want within the coming weeks, even his most ardent supporters could don’t have any selection however to vary their tune.
ESPN’s Mark Ogden additionally contributed to this report.