In the statement from Liverpool FC about the dismissal of Arne Slot, there is a lot of appreciation for the Dutch trainer. He will “always” have a “special place” in the club’s history as the coach who delivered Liverpool’s twentieth league title – in April 2025. His “outstanding coaching and leadership” in his first season has been highlighted by the club management.
As also underlined how he helped the club “through one of the most difficult periods imaginable”, following the tragic death of popular Portuguese striker Diogo Jota in July last year. “The compassion and humanity he showed during that time say a lot about him as a person.”
Yet the management of Liverpool FC has come to a hard conclusion. This after a particularly disappointing season in which Slot (47) lost control of the club and finished fifth in the Premier League, narrowly missing out on a Champions League ticket.
A “change of direction” is needed to “move the club forward.” According to Liverpool, this change does not detract from “the respect” they have for Slot. “Nor is it a reflection of his talents. Rather, it points to the need for a different approach.” He was fired immediately.
Painful contrast
After two years in the elite of European football, the adventure at Liverpool FC ends abruptly for Slot. He quickly made a name for himself last season as an up-and-coming, modern coach who managed to perfect the building of his predecessor Jürgen Klopp. But this season he has been mired in a host of problems – in tactics, game identity, intensity and mentality. And he had a conflict with star player Mo Salah. Stability was an illusion in Slot’s second year.
Slot was alone in the Anfield dug-out last Sunday, after the last league match against Brentford. Two club icons said goodbye to the crowd – the departing Salah and left back Andy Robertson. Slot wanted the spotlight on them, but his reserved attitude was a painful contrast to the ecstatic celebration after the title a year earlier, wrote The Athleticthe sports branch of The New York Times.
Liverpool FC, a club known for having faith in trainers for a long time, seemed to plan to continue with Slot. Because they wanted to give him the opportunity to make a new start with a strengthened selection next season. That is what British and international media wrote until recently and what Slot hinted at in press moments. His contract ran until mid-2027.
Arne Slot with the trophy after winning the Premier League at the end of last season.
Photo Carl Recine / Getty Images
The club management had great understanding for the emotional impact of the loss of Jota on the playing group. It was also recognized that fitting in new players took time, with a squad that had to be rebuilt. The fact that Slot had a lot of bad luck due to serious injuries – such as those of top purchases Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike – was also seen as an extenuating circumstance.
But what made Slot’s position increasingly difficult was the loss of the identity that was so characteristic of the modern Liverpool of his predecessor. “Under Klopp, even when things weren’t going well, the team usually retained a glimpse of who they were. Energy, aggressiveness, daring, noise, the emotion of the moment,” wrote Eddie Gibbs, podcaster and author on Liverpool FC, on X.
That fast, dynamic football almost completely disappeared in Slot’s second season. The team became “boring” to watch, Gibbs writes. He calls them predictable, passive and lifeless. “That is fatal at Anfield.”
This was evident in the home matches against Tottenham Hotspur (1-1) and Chelsea (1-1) this spring. The crowd left Anfield prematurely en masse, booing. In the 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Manchester City, the away section emptied early on.
Negative sentiment
The popularity of Slot, a celebrated coach a year earlier, decreased by the week. That negative sentiment seemed to spread to the team, where Liverpool FC is a club that often draws strength from the intense interaction with the fans. Patience ran out due to poor results and a lack of development. A growing part of the supporters wanted him to leave.
Slot is by nature not as “charismatic as Klopp, not as engaging and compelling,” said authoritative football writer Rory Smith in the podcast in mid-April Libero. “In the bad seasons under Klopp there was always the affection: we are on your side, we want you to succeed. Under Slot it is much more business-likeit is not love affair.”
Slot gives instructions to Mo Salah, against Tottenham Hotspur in March this year.
Photo Jon Super / AP
The belief that Slot could build a renewed, winning team gradually disappeared. What didn’t help him is that he didn’t find solutions to structural problems this season – the dysfunctional pressing, the defense and midfield that were too ‘open’ and a lack of pace in attack. The basis for a new season was very shaky, and criticism would undoubtedly flare up again in the event of a bad series. That made a dismissal inevitable – now, or else next season.
The bigger problem for Liverpool seems to be that two years after the departure of Klopp – coach from 2015 to 2024 – they are still not over him. The call for his ‘heavy metal football’ is heard regularly, most recently a post on Salah’s social media – which was seen as a direct attack on Slot.
The most important candidate to succeed Slot is according to various media the Spaniard Andoni Iraola, who is available after three successful seasons at Bournemouth. “Arne leaves with our great thanks, with a Premier League title to his name, and in the knowledge that he and his family will always be welcome back at Anfield,” Liverpool FC club management wrote in their last words to Slot.
