Arne Slot message to Liverpool fans shows he doesn’t get it after sack decision reached | OneFootball

Liverpool owners FSG are sticking by Arne Slot and won’t sack the Dutchman, though his message to Reds fans after the Aston Villa defeat should ring alarm bells for two reasons.

Liverpool produced yet another disasterclass on Friday night in a season that can’t end soon enough. There’s still work to do to secure Champions League qualification, and one prominent journalist has already declared Liverpool the “luckiest team in the division” if they scrape their way into Europe’s top competition.

Only Rio Ngumoha and Virgil van Dijk stood up tall at Villa Park. They are the youngest and oldest players in contention for starts right now, and the vast bulk of everyone in between should hang their heads in shame at what they’ve produced this term.

There’s no doubting some of the blame for Liverpool’s struggles must fall on the under-performing players.

However, a manager’s job is to guide and coach and improve his players, and in this season at least, that task looks alien to Slot.

As such, his message to Liverpool fans after the Villa loss won’t be one that’s greeted all that warmly by the Anfield faithful.

Slot banking on big summer window

Slot claimed Liverpool fans are underestimating how big of an impact the upcoming summer window will have on turning the club around.

In other words, the Dutchman is banking on being provided with a series of expensive new signings, rather than backing himself to improve those already in situ.

Slot said “I can understand at this moment in time [the fans] don’t have confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season, but I think they are underestimating what a transfer window can do, what a new start can do.”

That message is concerning for a second reason – Liverpool’s huge turnover in players last summer is viewed by owners FSG as a mitigating factor behind the team’s slump this year.

If making too many changes in too short a space of time has negatively impacted Liverpool, then a second successive summer where many big names leave and player turnover will be massive will only exacerbate those issues.

Other factors seen as mitigation by FSG include Diogo Jota’s tragic passing, and the sharp decline of Mohamed Salah.

However, Liverpool have failed to win a single Premier League match in 2026 in which Salah did not start. It’s not a small sample size either, with the Reds failing to win in any of the nine matches this calendar year in which Salah wasn’t in the eleven from the off.

By contrast, Liverpool have won 12 of 17 matches across all competitions in 2026 in which the outgoing Egyptian started.