Liverpool and Arne Slot: What do the fans feel about the Reds boss and his future
Slot’s squad selection for Wednesday’s EFL Cup defeat against Crystal Palace has sparked huge controversy.
He made 10 changes since Liverpool’s last game, making two debuts and naming three youngsters in the starting 11, plus five more among his substitutes.
The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekiike did not feature and the Reds made a masterful exit from the competition, which they have won twice in the last four seasons.
Liverpool fan Abigail Rudkin told BBC Sport she was disappointed with Slot’s decision-making process.
“Last night, when we were going to the game, my dad and I picked up the team jersey and said, ‘he sacrificed this,'” he said. “I understand we are losing games now but you have to try to get that winning mentality back.
“We’re losing patience. I think there are two different sides of the fan base right now.
“There are people on social media calling for him to lose his job and there are people like me who I see on the pitch, who are losing patience going into these games and not enjoying losing games as much, but at the same time they want to be patient with him because we are so grateful for what we have had since last season when we thought everything would be ruined without Jurgen Klopp.”
According to fan Richard, winning the title in its first season is a double-edged sword for Slot.
“The problem is that Slot won the Premier League with Jurgen Klopp’s team,” he said. “That was fantastic. But now he has spent hundreds of millions of pounds trying to improve himself and make his mark on the team and the club, everything is going wrong.
“When you watch him on the touchline, he doesn’t seem to know how to put things right when things go wrong. We’ve stopped pressing and scaring opponents. For some reason, we’re now playing at practice game tempo and only bringing the hammer in the last 15 minutes when we’re behind and chasing the game. This is definitely not Liverpool.”
Fellow fan Ryan said it was “too early” to talk about getting rid of the Slot, but said the players also need to take responsibility and shoulder some of the blame.
“We won’t turn into a bad team overnight,” he said. “But Slot can’t help himself with some of his decisions and that’s what he can control.
“Liverpool operate differently and I don’t think we will cut Slot and his team so quickly. But in the end it’s the results that matter and if things don’t improve quickly then we all know how it’s going to end.
“Meanwhile, the players need to step up too, it shouldn’t be entirely in the manager’s hands. Some of them have fallen far, far below the standards acceptable for Liverpool.”
