No Salah, Gakpo in the Liverpool XI to be picked by Glasner if he replaces Slot this season | OneFootball

The four points earned against West Ham United and Sunderland have done little to ease the pressure on Arne Slot, who surely cannot afford for Liverpool to lose against Leeds United on Saturday evening.

Liverpool’s results have improved over the past week, but it is evident that they are far from fine, and Slot resembled a broken man as he made two baffling statements during his press conference on Friday.

Slot is struggling to come up with the answers to save Liverpool and himself, so he will be the fall guy if there’s no sudden improvement following FSG’s poor transfer calls and the decline of key stars.

The Dutchman currently sits as one of the favourites to be the next manager sacked in the Premier League, and it appears that Crystal Palace boss Glasner is the ‘preferred candidate’ to replace him in the coming days/weeks/months.

The race to appoint Glasner ahead of the expiry of his Palace contract next summer already looks to be underway as Manchester United and Spurs have also been credited as potential suitors, but the Premier League holders likely still stand as the most tempting option if it were a straight shootout between all three clubs.

On the surface, Glasner does not appear to be a natural fit for Liverpool, given that he adopts a 3-4-2-1 formation, but there is an argument to suggest that his tactics are suited to get more from this group than Slot’s methods.

So, we figured it would be fun to take a look at Liverpool’s current group of players and predict how they would shape up under Glasner. Obviously, this assumes that the Palace boss is appointed to replace Slot and he sticks with his current formation at Anfield.

Starting with an easy one, Alisson Becker would remain Liverpool’s No.1 because he is still comfortably their best goalkeeper and Giorgi Mamardashvili needs another year or two as his No.2.

The defence is trickier, considering this has been a major problem area for Liverpool this season, as it’s hard to make a case for any of their defenders having good campaigns.

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Virgil van Dijk has shown his age after having a renaissance as the Premier League’s best defender last term, while Ibrahima Konate has become a liability and has cost himself a transfer to Real Madrid.

Van Dijk would remain at the heart of the defence, but a switch to three centre-backs would enable Glasner to drop Konate. This has been needed for a while, and in his place, Joe Gomez could start because his experience at full-back would be useful for this formation.

On the left, inevitable January signing Marc Guehi, once he follows Glasner in joining Liverpool in January, would slot in seamlessly on the left. Alternatively, Andy Robertson could tuck in a la Luke Shaw, but the Palace captain would be preferred.

Liverpool have also been particularly weak at full-back this season, which is due to the struggles of the personnel and Slot’s insistence on changing his XI too much.

Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong were among Liverpool’s notable summer signings as they were recruited to be Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s long-term replacements, but neither has been up to the task so far.

But a wing-back role is more suited to their skill sets, especially in attack, and they would have a better platform to shine if they could mainly focus on going forward.

In midfield, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister are obvious selections for the two holding positions, though Adam Wharton may replace the World Cup winner at some point in 2026. 

And in the attacking roles, Florian Wirtz, who is starting to find his feet, and Dominik Szoboszlai, who has comfortably been Liverpool’s best player this season, are the best fits for the No.10 spots, while record buy Alexander Isak would start ahead of Hugo Ekitike.

This XI is not without its flaws, but it is enough of an exciting alternative to justify Liverpool appointing Glasner.