Liverpool’s season has unravelled fast. A campaign that began with hope of defending the Premier League title instead turned into a mixture of off-field turmoil, early cup exits and an on-field slump that left the club chasing answers rather than silverware.
For all that, the picture around Arne Slot is still clearer than much of the rest of the club. One senior view is that everything currently points to owner Fenway Sports Group sticking with the manager, even as Liverpool prepare for a major squad overhaul and face uncertainty over key executives. That matters because Slot, who exceeded expectations by winning the Premier League just over 12 months ago, is now being judged against a very different season.
The collapse has not come from one source. Liverpool were the only Premier League club to have grief counsellors on site throughout pre-season, and the impact of Diogo Jota’s death cannot be measured in any simple way. Add to that a stream of crushing injuries, a squad stretched thin enough to leave some players overplayed, and a number of new signings who needed time to settle. Established names, too, lost their way as the year went on.
That is the backdrop to a blunt assessment of how Liverpool have looked for much of the campaign. As one source put it, there has been a general lack of intensity. Defensively, the team has been far too vulnerable. In midfield they have been outfought too often, and going forward they have either struggled to create or wasted chances when they did. Far too many performances, the same view went on, have been blighted by slow, predictable build-up play.
The tensions go beyond the dugout. Two years ago, after Jurgen Klopp stepped down, there is a misconception that Xabi Alonso was Liverpool’s first choice. Contacts say that is not accurate, insisting he was not seriously considered because he had already made it clear he would stay at Leverkusen for another season. Slot kept coming out on top in Liverpool’s data-led search for Klopp’s successor, while Ruben Amorim was also in the frame at Sporting CP. One factor against Amorim then was his preference for three at the back, the same system Alonso also likes.
That detail now feels more relevant than it once did. The squad is better suited to a three-at-the-back formation than it was when Liverpool first began the search for a new manager, and if the club’s position on Slot were ever to change, Alonso would be a strong contender. For now, though, the expectation is that the Dutchman remains in charge while Liverpool try to rebuild around him, not replace him.
The real question is whether the club can turn a season of damage into a clean reset. With the squad due for significant change, and with executive uncertainty lingering above it, Liverpool do not just need a better run of results. They need the structure around Slot to settle before another campaign begins.
