Arne Slot in or Out? Liverpool Paying the Price for Their Success | OneFootball

If you are a Liverpool fan, the form of the Reds right now shouldn’t be strange to you. Eight losses from 11 games ending by what could be described as an utter humiliation against Nottingham Forest by losing 3-0 at Anfield.

Since the game ended, social media has been in a flurry with calls to sack Arne Slot. Eight losses from 11 games is a disaster for any team, so how could it be looked at for one of the biggest clubs in the world?

In this article, I try to make the case for Slot In and Slot Out.

Slot In

The Dutch manager won the league last season. With no transfers and no players joining the league, he got Liverpool to their record-equalling 20th Premier League title.

Also, Slot has endured many difficulties this season that are not his fault but he is paying the price for them. Trent Alexander-Arnold, one of the most creative players in the Premier League, left the club without an adequate replacement. Alisson got injured and Salah has been out of form since the start of the season. Van Djik and Konate look much different than their dominant levels and there is no suitable alternative in the squad. Robertson looks done at the top level. The core of the squad that made Liverpool one of the best teams in the country left or were injured or out of form.

The board decided to get into the season without reinforcing the two biggest weaknesses in the team: centre back and defensive midfielder.

Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have not been up to standard yet. Isak did not have a pre season and he got injured as soon as he started playing. Florian Wirtz is taking time to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League and Giovanni Leoni got an ACL injury in his first game for the club.

The team has suffered a lot of changes and Slot deserves a chance to fix this team. The new signings have not hit the ground running and the team is suffering from it. Liverpool just dominated Real Madrid less than 3 weeks ago. The Reds started the season with eight wins in a row.

The Dutch manager proved last season that he can adapt and win the Premier League and he deserves a chance to fix this mess and get Liverpool back and running to their imperial form.

Oh, where do I start? £500M spent in the transfer market. Slot is not extracting the best out of the talent at his disposal. Signing 2 of the best attacking talents in world football in Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz and the Dutch manager has barely any idea how to use them. Having two of the best young fullbacks in the world. It is up to Slot to extract the best of his young talent and he does not.

Regarding team selection, Slot benched Ekitike, who started the season on fire for Isak, only for the French Striker confidence to be crushed and now he is a shadow of the player who started the season on fire at Liverpool. Chiesa barely starts despite Salah’s disastrous form.

The team press in uncoordinated and it leaves various spaces in midfield open. The attack is a mess. Even the eight wins in a row were all built on late goals and it is unsustainable in football to rely on late goals and individual quality to win football games. Slot is not trying any tactical tweaks or adjustments to help his team play better.

Liverpool’s form is not born of this moment. Since February 2025, they got knocked out of the FA cup by Plymouth Argyle, lost the Carabao final to Newcastle and got dominated for 3 quarters of their two games against PSG. If not for the lack of competition, Liverpool could have well bottled their massive league advantage. Slot has more losses in 2025 than Ruben Amorim (the man called by many as the worst United manager in recent history)

The Slot out camp argues that this form has been going on for almost a year now. it is his job to extract the best of the talent at his disposal. The Dutch manager does not know how to use the signings he got and his lineups are not giving players a fair chance or a chance to compete.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 22: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, reacts prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Anfield on November 22, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Liverpool looks devoid of ideas and for the first time for years, looks devoid of fight and desire. This is a sackable offence in itself, say the critics.

The Verdict

In some way, it feels like the Reds are paying the price for their success. If Slot hadn’t won the league last season, there would not be a question about his sacking. If they hadn’t won the league without spending any money, they wouldn’t have the ability to splash around £500M on new players.

Liverpool have 2 of the best in the business in Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes running their football department. They will see the arguments for keeping the Dutch manager or sacking him.

Yet, the Liverpool board deserves massive blame for how this season is going. For the first time under Edwards, it feels like Liverpool went into the market without a strategy. The club footballing department were making signings haphazardly; they were intent on creating a galácticos, not a coherent team that plays for each other.

Why sign a £125M striker when you already signed Ekitike? Why sign an elite N10 when you don’t play with one? Did they really think that the team can run it back with 2 injury-prone CBs, a 34 year old and a young kid with one year of senior football under his belt? Did they believe that Premier League teams won’t expose Gravenberch at the No. 6 position?

Did they believe that the adequate cover for Gapko is a 17 year old for a team expected to compete on four fronts after £500M spent? Did they believe Chiesa (who they wanted to sell in summer) is enough to cover Salah?

Lots of questions that only the Liverpool board have the answers to.

If Slot continues in his job, the arguments for giving him a chance are justified. If the Dutch manager is sacked, no one can argue it is not justified. Losing eight out of 11 games is disastrous for any club, let alone one of the biggest clubs in the world.

Whatever decision the Liverpool board takes, they need a long look at the mirror because this season’s spiralling is as much on them as it is on Slot.

Liverpool used their success to deviate from what made them successful and they are currently paying the price for it.