Steven Gerrard issues Arne Slot warning amid Liverpool fans' unrest | OneFootball

Reds have underwhelmed in title defence as boss fights to keep fans onside

Steven Gerrard has warned Arne Slot that he must fix some of Liverpool’s “dire” performances if he is to keep his job at Anfield.

The Dutchman won the Premier League title in his debut campaign on Merseyside, but their title defence in his second season has been more disappointing, as Liverpool fight for Champions League qualification.

Now, he will be without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker for the trip to Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final on Easter Saturday, as well as suffering a fresh setback with Jeremie Frimpong, whose injury on international duty has sidelined the new arrival once more in his first season at the club.

It leaves Slot again without a recognised right full-back after Conor Bradley was ruled out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Liverpool legend Gerrard believes that Slot still has credit in the bank due to his title win, but admits that he “understands” the fans’ frustrations.

“I know more than anyone on the planet how difficult it is to win a league, and for him to come in and win a league, in his first season, he's got a lot more credit with me,” he said on The Overlap.

"Liverpool will demand - they expect - to win [the league] every year. I think he needs the opportunity to play his way out of trouble and fix the issues and try and get himself back in a good place.

"I think he did during that period a few months ago where they'd lost nine out of 12 and then they went on a run where he took them from 12th to fourth in the league.

“I think someone who has won a league deserves at least a full season to try and get out of the problems and issues that they've got. I'm certainly one of them.

"But I have to understand what the fans are saying as well, because it has been dire on certain games and performances."

“I’ve enjoyed watching them in the Champions League, because I think they look like a completely different team. I think they’re in a different place there, but it’s a really tough ask for them going into the next one against PSG.

"In the league, they’ve looked very different. I haven’t really enjoyed watching them. It looks as if they’ve got a lot of issues to fix. It’s been difficult to put your finger on one issue, because they’ve got quite a few and it’s all over the pitch. So they’ve been very mixed and very two-faced, I would say.”

After their FA Cup last-eight encounter with City, attentions turn back to the Champions League, where Slot’s men take on holders Paris Saint-Germain.

Paris are fresh off their aggregate thrashing of Chelsea in the last 16, and will come into this tie full of confidence.

Between those two legs, Liverpool will face Fulham at Anfield as their quest to finish in the top five continues.