Will Champions League Qualification Save Slot’s Job? | OneFootball

After winning the Premier League in his debut season as Liverpool manager, everything looked rosy for Arne Slot. He arrived in the English top-flight replacing an icon in Jurgen Klopp, but took to the division like a duck to water. However, that was last season, with the current campaign having been a disappointment on the whole. But with Champions League qualification almost in the bag, will it be enough to keep Slot in the Anfield hotseat?

Plenty Of Credit In The Bank

When Slot arrived at Liverpool, it’s fair to say that nobody expected him and the team to go on and achieve what they did. As seen in the past, when such a huge character like Klopp leaves, it’s hard for the next man in to succeed. It happened with David Moyes when he replaced Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Football betting online indicated there was an expectation Liverpool would do OK, but not go all the way and win their second Premier League title.

Regardless of what anyone says, winning the title with Liverpool, especially in your first season as manager, is a huge achievement. It also gives you credit in the bank as a manager, because you’ve already proven you’ve got what it takes to guide a team to major trophies. And it’s this credit in the bank that Slot will be relying on.

Champions League Football Is Almost Secured

The remit for this season will undoubtedly have been for Liverpool to mount a strong title defence, with the real aim likely to have been to become back-to-back Premier League winners. However, when it became apparent in late October that it wasn’t going to be that kind of campaign, the target became to secure Champions League football as a bare minimum.

At the time of writing, after three top-flight victories in a row, with wins over Fulham, local rivals Everton, and most recently Crystal Palace, Liverpool are fourth with 58 points and a healthy points cushion. At this stage, it would take something to go drastically wrong for the Reds to finish outside the top five, meaning Slot has delivered at least something this term.

Will It Be Enough?

After last season’s heroics, most people, including Slot himself, will have expected better of Liverpool this term. They’ve gone from being the top team in the Premier League to arguably the fourth or fifth best. It’s quite the fall, and one that many didn’t see coming, especially after so much money was spent to improve in the summer.

If this season was Slot’s first season, everyone would have been far more forgiving and seen it as a good base to build on going forward, but unfortunately, football works in mysterious ways.

But maybe the transfer business, alongside other factors, serves as a mitigation as to why this season hasn’t gone as planned and why all the blame can’t be laid at Slot’s door. The multiple incomings, with players so far failing to hit the levels expected, as well as the drop in form of experienced pros at the club, could be reasons why. Or they could also be excuses. Maybe Slot made the best of a bad situation and still managed to secure Champions League football.

Arne Slot shocked everyone when he guided Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2024/25. And he probably shocked everyone again due to the disappointing campaign the Reds have endured this season. But, with plenty of credit in the bank and a top-five finish on the cards, maybe he simply deserves a chance to get the club back on track.