Why Arne Slot Sounds Like a Beaten Man at Liverpool

Arne Slot would have been plotting to retain the Premier League title at the beginning of this season.

Right now the Liverpool boss has to focus on keeping his job with the Reds in danger of allowing their campaign to collapse before they have even really got going.

The latest result in a long line of poor fixtures came on Wednesday evening and it saw Liverpool flop at home in front of a packed out crowd in a 1-1 draw with surprise package Sunderland.

The Black Cats, admittedly, have performed well above their own expectations so far this term but their opponents have equally bombed on the other end of the scale.

Slot’s side have hit a rough spell and won just 50 percent of their matches in the Premier League so far this season with seven from 14 while they have also drawn once and lost six.

Arne Slot looks beaten man at Liverpool this season

To put that into context, in last season’s title winning year, the club were beaten only four times throughout the entirety of the 38 matches on their calendar.

Dutchman Slot, 47, knows better than anyone how poor his squad have performed with their big hitters failing to turn up for the majority of their season so far. Mo Salah should have been dropped, so say many pundits and supporters, while others such as big money man Alexander Isak has been abysmal by his own standards.

The Swedish frontman cost a staggering £125million after Isak forced his move to Anfield but he is yet to find the net in the league and only has one goal throughout which came in the Carabao Cup against Southampton.

Liverpool do not look like the same rampant outfit who blew teams away last year and their efforts are clearly taking a toll on their boss.

Here’s why Slot appears to be a beaten man already and it’s a look which does not bode well for his future.

Liverpool results taking toll on Slot

Slot has cut a frustrated figure more often than not this season and it is a far cry from the jubilation he would have felt last time out.

Liverpool are now a whopping 11 points behind league leaders Arsenal who are in the midst of some stunning form with only one defeat in the league so far and three draws from 14. That’s 10 victories so far and five points of daylight between them and second spot.

Mikel Arteta is finding wins where Slot is not and in the Champions League things look rosier for Liverpool’s compatriots than they do for them.

But it’s not just the matter of defeats that Slot is having to contend with. If his side were putting in performances and genuinely coming up against bad luck or injury issues, it might be slightly less jarring.

That has not really been the case, unfortunately. Defeats to PSV (4-1), Nottingham Forest (3-0), Man City (3-0) and Crystal Palace (3-0) have been awful and they went a run of games – four in all competitions – without a win back in late September.

Slot’s Liverpool job under pressure?

If you take Slot and the club’s season in isolation, it has been miserable. There is absolutely no escaping it and the fans will eventually demand change if things persist at Liverpool as they are.

However, comparing the Dutch coach’s results with previous managers – as well as the current date and matchday we are in – it is lucky he is still in the role at the time of writing at all.

Take Brendan Rodgers’ tenure on Merseyside. The former Celtic and Leicester City boss was sacked in October 2015 with his side sitting 10th in the EPL after a poor start. The Irishman’s season that year actually mirrors Slot, somewhat, with the current Reds side in eighth in the league and only one point ahead of ninth and 10th.

Rodgers had guided the club to second the year before and should have lifted the trophy as Slot did. It is eerily similar.

What must also come into consideration is the amount of money the club spent in the summer transfer window. Not many, if any, players have looked the real deal and considering as much as £422m was splashed out, Slot and his recruitment team have plenty of questions to answer.

If the manager cannot get the right tune out of his players having spent so much to bring them in, he could be in line for a rude awakening and Slot could be axed sooner rather than later.

What Arne Slot has said about Liverpool this season

Slot believes teams in the Premier League and Champions League now look at Liverpool as a team they can realistically beat, unlike in previous seasons.

The Reds’ form is so poor that so-called lesser sides are now coming in against them with confidence and expectation as opposed to the usual trepidation and defensive mindset.

That does not sit right with the manager. “It’s clear that teams that play us now think they can get a result. Not only think, because that has been shown this season.

“And even in the games we’ve won, they also fuelled the confidence for other teams like, ‘Hmm, something is possible’ because the wins we had at the beginning of the season weren’t easy ones as well.”