Arsenal greats Alan Smith and Nigel Winterburn have been discussing the future of Arne Slot and what’s going wrong at Liverpool
Liverpool return to Premier League action on Sunday away to West Ham United with head coach Arne Slot under intense scrutiny. The man who masterminded the Reds’ title triumph in his debut campaign in charge of the club is now facing serious questions.
Whether fair or not, particularly after a summer of huge change and tragedy, it comes with the territory of being the Liverpool manager who has overseen nine defeats in the past 12 matches in all competitions.
That is the grim statistic staring Slot and his players in the face after their season went bad to worse on Wednesday with a 4-1 home loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
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The Reds still have a strong chance of progression in that competition but their hopes of defending the Premier League appear over even before the Christmas decorations are up following back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.
The title holders currently sit 12th, behind rivals Everton and Manchester United, and 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
And ahead of the game with West Ham, two Gunners’ legend have been having their say on Liverpool and the future of Slot.
“Having won the league, you’d think he’s got a lot of credit in the bank,” said Alan Smith, the Sky Sports pundit who won two titles with Arsenal in his playing days.
“Surprisingly, quite a few fans seem to be turning, and it’s not like Liverpool fans, but that (Nottingham) Forest defeat seemed to tip some over the edge. And if they keep losing, the hierarchy, I suppose, will have to look at it.
“I was amazed when Claudio Ranieri got dumped after Leicester won the league. So, a similar situation, I suppose, in a way.
“But I think he’s still got goodwill in the bank, and they’ll be looking beyond Christmas just to hope things get better.”
Smith, writing in his weekly column for BestBettingSites.co.ukalso addressed whether Slot should drop Mohamed Salah, the modern-day Reds legend who, like so many of his team-mates, is struggling for form.
He said: “It’s a big call, isn’t it, to drop Salah? But there’s a case for it. He hasn’t got too many alternatives on the right-hand side there.
“You’re wondering whether (Hugo) Ekitike could play off the right and get him in the same team as (Alexander) Isak that way. Because that’s a problem. Those two expensive forwards, can you get them both playing together?
“You’re just hoping Salah can come good, but there’s not much sign of it at the moment. Plus, he’ll be off to the AFCON in the middle of December. That might be an opportunity for somebody to stake a claim.”
Smith’s former Arsenal and England team-mate Nigel Winterburn believes the biggest problem facing Slot is in the centre of the pitch.
“It seems crazy to say that Arne Slot could be under pressure at Liverpool after winning the league, but you never know,” said Winterburn, who won two titles alongside Smith under George Graham and then another under Arsene Wenger.
“You can only talk about performances and to me, Liverpool look way too open in the middle of the pitch which is causing them huge problems defensively.
“The players that they bought in the summer aren’t making as big an impact that we expected them to make and unfortunately, we don’t know the full impact that the terrible news about Diogo Jota is having on them in the dressing room.
“The club has gone through quite a big change over the summer, and they invested heavily in the summer which they obviously would have hoped would make a big difference.
“It still could as there is a long time to go in the season yet, they need to work out what their best starting XI is and stick with it for three or four weeks to get some rhythm back into their game.
“As a player, when you lose confidence, it can drain you very quickly and that’s what it looks like to me – it’s very hard to get that back. When they don’t take their opportunities, the opposition score which puts them under huge pressure.
“They could have been 2-0 up against Nottingham Forest at the weekend but they didn’t take their chances and when Forest scored, you suddenly had the feeling they’d take three points away from Anfield. We’re not used to seeing that with Liverpool.”
Isak, who made a £125m British transfer record move from Newcastle United, struggled after being handed a start against Forest and was back on the bench against PSV.
And Winterburn, speaking to BetBrainsaid: “Alexander Isak deserves time to fully embed into that side; it doesn’t matter if you’re worth £1m or £100m. He’s come into a team that is struggling to win games, and that isn’t his fault.
“He’s not getting the same service from the midfield as he was at Newcastle, so Liverpool are going to have to modify the way they play, or he is going to have to find a way to make it work in that system.
“There’s also the fact that he missed a lot of pre-season; it doesn’t matter if you train on your own as you will always end up being behind your team-mates.
“From my point of view, he must be judged at the end of the season, but it hasn’t been a good start. When you’re bought for over £120m, you will be judged every minute of every game, but he must rise above that and deliver like he did at Newcastle.”
