Liverpool stance on sacking Arne Slot after PSV thrashing | Football

Liverpool will not make a kneejerk decision on the future of under-fire manager Arne Slot who retains the club’s backing.

Six months on from masterminding the Reds’ Premier League title-winning campaign, the Dutchman is battling to save his job following a catastrophic run of results.

Retaining the title is now almost out of the question and progression in the Champions League is far from certain following last night’s 4-1 thrashing at the hands of PSV Eindhoven at Anfield.

A run of nine defeats in 12 games in all competitions has sent Liverpool spiralling into a fully-blown crisis but it appears that Slot will be given time to turn the ship around.

According to Daily Mail Sport the former Feyenoord boss will remain in the dugout for Sunday’s potential banana skin against West Ham who have steadied the ship under their new manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, and are unbeaten in their last three games.

Slot addressed his future in the immediate aftermath of last night’s damaging defeat and said: ‘It’s normal and I understand if any manager around the world loses football games, let alone as many as we’ve lost, it’s quite normal that people have an opinion about that, and if it’s fair or not, that’s for other people to judge.

‘But that it’s normal if you lose so many times, people will start talking about that.’

Liverpool woes under Arne Slot

• Starting with their 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace on September 27, Liverpool have lost nine and won three of their last 12 games.
• That includes six defeats out of seven Premier League games, dropping them from first to 12th in the table. They are the first defending champions since Leicester in 2016-17 to lose six of their first 12.
• A 4-1 defeat against PSV was also a third successive defeat by three goals or more, following 3-0 league losses to Manchester City and Nottingham Forest. Both that and the overall run of nine defeats in 12 are the club’s worst since the 1953-54 season.
• Europe had provided some respite with wins over Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid but the 4-1 rout by PSV means they have now lost two of their first five Champions League games.

Asked if he is worried about his job, he added: ‘No I’m not worried, what I mean by that is that my focus is on a lot of things other than worrying about my own position.

‘I try to analyse try to help the players as much as I can and it’s obvious that I don’t do it the way I did that last season. When you talk about individual errors I think that’s also something that comes from a team effort.

‘I need to do better and that’s what I’m trying to do every single day, to improve the team and that is where my main focus is.’

While Slot is under intense pressure to arrest the slide, club legend Steven Gerrard fears it is too soon to be talking about ending the 47-year-old’s reign.

He said: ‘Crisis is a strong word, and disrespectful to some of the players that have delivered for this club, and for the manager that’s delivered three months ago,’ Gerrard, who made 710 appearances for Liverpool, told TNT Sports.

‘But you cannot deny the team is struggling massively, they’re on a terrible run, confidence is at an all-time low and they just keep bleeding.

‘Unless the manager can find answers and stability in the team it’s going to continue.’

Gerrard’s former England and Liverpool teammate Steve McManaman believes talk about Slot’s future is premature.

‘I think it’s far too early for such questions,’ he said. ‘They would have to go out of the Champions League and be wallowing near the bottom of the league.

‘They play Arsenal second week of January, that’s when the question should be asked. They’ll be halfway through the season by then.’

Another former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, is in broad agreement with his ex-teammates but fears Slot’s muddled decision making is typified by his reluctance to drop error-prone defender Ibrahima Konate who endured another night to forget against PSV.

CBS Sports released off-air footage of Carragher watching Liverpool’s defeat in the studio, which included his furious reaction to Ibrahima Konate’s mistake in the build-up to PSV’s third goal.

‘Oh my God, Konate. Oh my God Konate. Watch Konate here, oh my God,’ Carragher said. Carragher was then seen making a call on his phone and said during that conversation: ‘I’ve f****** had enough of them. Honest to God, that Konate.

‘I mean, that’s a sackable offence for the manager f****** keep picking him. Should be sacked for that.’

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