Arne Slot sack fears ignite as tensions rise after Wolves loss and Liverpool boss admits ‘expectations have changed’ | OneFootball

Arne Slot is running out of time and matches to prove himself worthy of staying in the Liverpool job after fans and media alike vented their fury after their 2-1 loss to Wolves, and with the manager himself left ruing the “same old story” after a dire night at Molineux.

All looked well in the Liverpool garden when they romped to the Premier League title in Slot’ first season at the helm. Going on to spend £440m (€505m, $600m) on fine-tuning their squad over the summer, it was hoped the significant investment would help create a trophy dynasty at Anfield.

Instead, the opposite has happened. After a dismal ninth Premier League loss of the season against the division’s basement dwellers, which condemned the champions to another miserable night, the writing now appears on the wall for Slot, who has lurched from one crisis to another this season.

Writing back in January, our correspondent Fraser Fletcher revealed the Reds overlords FSG were strongly looking into the possibility of removing the Dutchman from the hotseat, having drawn up a short and long-term succession plan which involved both Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

However, it now seems that the writing is now on the wall in the wake of that loss, and a report at the weekend named the five tests Slot would have to pass to keep his job and with a timeline for his removal as manager coming to light.

But in light of Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat – courtesy of a 90+4 minute winner from Andre – fans and media have now turned on the boss.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, former Reds defender Stephen Warnock bemoaned: “Liverpool are nowhere near where they would like to be. When you think about reigning champions and the title defence, it’s not gone to plan at all.

“There is a lot of talk about Arne Slot and what possibly might happen at the end of the season, and I think if he doesn’t get Champions League football, I wouldn’t be surprised if the club made a change.”

Clearly Liverpool’s fans have seen enough too…

Arne Slot sack: Liverpool fans make feelings clear

Taking their anger out on social media, it is clear that a growing portion of Reds fans have now seen enough.

One fan wrote: ‘Enough is enough! Arne Slot has taken Liverpool from title contenders to Champions League chasers, and now a humiliating loss to rock-bottom Wolves? No tactics, no fight, no excuses. Sack him NOW before it’s too late!’

In agreement, another posted: ‘I’d sack Slot and give it Gerrard until the end of the season. At least his side will show some balls.’

A third added: ‘Under this manager, this team looks awful week in week out. Either sack the manager or sell all the players. Whatever the issues are, Slot can’t fix them. Total chaos out there.’

A fourth was unhappy with Slot’s favouritism towards certain players, commenting: ‘He deserves the sack for many things, but Gakpo playing every single game is right at the top of the list.. If I were Rio [Ngumoha], I’d be putting in a transfer request asap.’

A fifth added: ‘Just sack him already! There was more buy-in under Brendan Rodgers than this guy.’

Many more shared similar or the same viewpoints in reaction to that loss, and it seems Slot too had appeared to run out of ideas…

Slot bemoans ‘same old story’, and his ‘expectations have changed’

Facing the media after the game, Slot also seemed short of answers over why his side keep on making the same mistakes.

“It’s the same old story,.” the Dutchman began… “Recently, we have been picking up points because we scored many times from set-pieces.

“But the end result, we score one, and they scored two and another in (added) time so it sums up our season again.

“What I mean by it sums up our season that we have far more ball possession than the other team and we’ve created most open play chances, but in open play we’ve struggled to score.”

Concerningly, the manager then admitted his expectations of his side and of the season had now changed…

“My expectations have changed throughout the season because I expected more from us and what we are fighting for now. But it’s another setback and we didn’t help ourselves with this result, not at all.

“But there are still nine games to play, so we are coming closer to the end and dropping points in the game when it’s absolutely not necessary when you look at the run of play.

“If we play this game in this fashion 10 times, I don’t think we lose 10 times, but I’m far from sure we win every time – therefore we are not good enough.”

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Elsewhere, with Liverpool joining Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in all making recent checks on Michael Olise’s situation at Bayern Munich, .