Liverpool enter a critical spell in which Arne Slot\u2019s future at the club will increasingly depend on immediate results and qualification for the Champions League. Wednesday\u2019s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain is framed as a poignant marker. Last season\u2019s European meeting with the French giants was the turning point in Slot\u2019s debut campaign and, the club argue, the start of a run from which they have not recovered.<\/p>\n
Slot lost just four of his first 45 matches in charge before Liverpool were eliminated by PSG in the round of 16 last March. Since that exit the sequence of results has deteriorated: the Reds have suffered defeat in 20 of 59 matches. The statistical divide is stark. In the pre-PSG period Slot\u2019s side registered 34 wins from 45 games (76%), seven draws (16%) and four losses (9%), scoring 105 goals (2.3 per game) while conceding 38 (0.8). Post-PSG elimination the record stands at 29 wins from 59 (49%), 10 draws (17%) and 20 losses (34%), with 106 goals scored (1.8 per game) and 80 conceded (1.4).<\/p>\n
Despite the poor run and reports of a squad admission about a lack of commitment, Fenway Sports Group remain willing to back Slot for now. The club are said to want to give Slot “the chance to put things right next season,” according to The Athletic. That patience is conditional. The Athletic have made clear the message: \u201cChampions League or bust.\u201d Missing out on European revenue after a heavy summer outlay would intensify pressure on the manager.<\/p>\n
Xabi Alonso has been mentioned as an alternative and his name generates debate among supporters. John Barnes addressed that viewpoint directly. “I understand the clamor because Xabi is a Liverpool favorite,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “But did he not fail at Real Madrid? Was he actually a successful manager?” He added: “Of course, don\u2019t get me wrong, I think Xabi is great and he did a good job. But he got sacked by Real Madrid for failure, didn\u2019t he? That\u2019s why they got rid of him.” The debate over continuity and stability is likely to intensify as the season reaches its decisive weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool’s season hinges on Champions League football; Slot’s job, form and scrutiny all converge…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,969],"tags":[1505,299,1047],"class_list":["post-11044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-accountability","tag-arne-slot","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}