03 Mar 2026 09:41:11
Champions league qualification is the most important thing at the moment, big moves to be made in the transfer window still and we can't afford to be throwing that CL money away, of course winning the CL would be great but unlikely. The FA Cup can sod off, you get nothing for that. FSG are far more concerned with staying in the CL over winning an FA cup, so am I, it would have far more bearing on Slot's position. If he didn't secure CL but won the FA cup, it wouldn't count for anything with me personally. It's a nice addition to the cabinet but it doesn't really help the club in any way outside of bragging rights.
I think for myself and a lot of Slots critics the issue has been the football. I know most of us talk about the football being boring, personally I don't care about that, I want to see results, effective tactics, a manager who's willing to adapt his approach when things aren't working, somebody who doesn't just see problems and use them as an excuse in the pressers but actively works to combat the issues. I haven't really seen any of that with Slot.
We went on our worst run of 70 years, he proved himself ignorant and arrogant in his approach, refusing to adapt tactics when evidently things weren't working. What little has changed has been too little too late for me. The times at which we've played some more direct, fast counter attacking football it's clearly worked, but the seasons almost over, the time to make that change was back in November. You can make great decisions, but if you make them at the wrong time they're still bad decisions.
Whatevers been going on with the fitness is absolutely unacceptable. Slot himself admitted the other day that we are fitter now than we were a couple of months ago, and he wasn't. talking about injuries. 2 months ago we were halfway through the season! So it's taken us 7 months to get fit?! Unacceptable. We've all seen most of the players struggle to push on past 90 minutes, we've all been critical of it, and highly suspicious that the conditioning regime is obviously lacklustre to say the least.
Slot's recent comments just confirmed all our suspicions. It's not like it's an easy mistake to make, sports science has these things down to a t, a fine art, there's no guesswork. We were absolute elite in terms of fitness under Klopp and the head of physical performance has been there since 2012 so I find it very difficult to point the finger at anyone bar Arne for that.
If he does manage to truly turn it around, great, but I need to see it right now, I need to see epic performances in the last 8 games for him to prove himself. We've had an easy run these few games, the final stretch will be very telling.
03 Mar 2026 10:52:49
Do you think, at times this season, the sports science people have pulled Slot and said, in their opinion, the players weren't doing enough in training? Genuine question. I just can't see it myself. Difference with Klopp was he had total power, and probably didn't give a toss what the sports science people said, and went against them.
These head coaches don't have that power; we've seen that already with Maresca at Chelsea this season. Also, you say winning the FA Cup doesn't help the club in any way apart from bragging rights. I can remember a time when that's all that mattered.
03 Mar 2026 11:00:49
We were 7 points clear of Arsenal and he blew our chance of back-to-back PL wins. Those chances do not come around very often, and this year was a golden opportunity.
That alone is unforgivable.
I know we are not guaranteed to win every game; there is no right to win anything, but the form of Man City is at an all-time low, Chelsea are still inconsistent, and does Arsenal have the stomach when it comes to getting it over the line?
Instead, Slot blindly pursued his vanity project 'style of play' and sacrificed results for it.
Yet Slot is still the right man for the job?
No man in the history of the club has been bigger than the club. Not even Shankly.
03 Mar 2026 11:01:31
There was an article by Football S&C coach Simon Brundish last week that talks about the differences between Klopp and Slot's approach to load management and fitness. It's pretty technical, but worth a read.
Ruben Peeters is Slot's man, btw.
03 Mar 2026 11:09:40
I don't really care who's primarily at fault. All I know is that our players are a yard off the pace and have been all season. We don't press properly, we don't track back quick enough, we lack aggression all over the park, we don't attack at speed very often, and we fade in and out of games (often either starting slow or limping to the full-time whistle).
It's not good enough. The fitness levels are not up to the standards of the Premier League. The only reason we're still within touching distance of the other good teams is because we have such a ridiculously good squad. If we had given Klopp £450m of players in one summer he'd have won the treble.
03 Mar 2026 12:04:31
{Ed's Note - PatrikBurgher has posted a new article entitled, Liverpool’s Squad Depth and Slot’s Compromises
03 Mar 2026 12:14:52
Crazy that the other 19 teams are at a certain bar and we are at another. In this day and age of minute gains and losses, you would think it almost impossible that no one team could possibly be so far behind the rest. It's 2026 after all.
Surely the whole sports science department would and should be getting their marching orders. Whether Slot stays or not, surely the whole sports science department has to go this summer, or we'll have the same situation next year, would we not?
03 Mar 2026 12:23:30
Mk, you are better than that. We did not give Slot £450m of players. He lost at least £250m of players in today's market to enable the spend, and then lost £180m of the £200m spent to injury (Leoni, Isak, and Frimpong have barely played).
So, if we are using the money spent as a stick to beat him with, then at least get it right.
03 Mar 2026 12:25:27
Florian, I ain't buying that for a second. Slot has power over all on-pitch topics, and that includes which fitness and training methods are used in the preseason and during the season, as MKS mentioned.
Last season, Slot changed some of the stuff Klopp did regarding training, recovery, and match preparation, and he got plaudits for it. A lot of that was because, unlike Arsenal and others complaining about injuries, the new tweaks he and Robin Peeters (his performance guru at Feyenoord when they won the title) introduced prevented such injuries.
Now suddenly Slot is powerless to do anything on this same front? So he now has to listen to the physios in the Sports Science departments and should not make changes like he was doing last season?
Sorry, I propose your research needs some work, because some of us were actually paying attention throughout last season coming into this season and the diff. is light and day, imo.
03 Mar 2026 12:26:06
Unless Slot wins the CL or FA Cup, he is 100% gone. Even then, winning the CL or FA Cup, Slot may call it a day (see reasons below). Qualifying for CL does not guarantee his job either.
100%, as the ITKs have said (I am not ITK, btw), that Alonso is coming in June.
There are other reasons why Slot is going, and it is also to do with him being away from family. They have not moved to Liverpool, and this has been hard on Arne Slot, hence why he jets back to the Netherlands at every chance he gets when there is a few days' break.
A work colleague (massive Ajax supporter with good links to the club) told me a few weeks ago (he is based in Amsterdam) that Ajax are very keen on hiring Slot for the 2026/27 season and Slot is interested as it means going back home. Slot would never publicly admit it, but the constant pressure of the Premier League and being away from family is the reason he wants to go back. Even if he wins CL or FA Cup he will probably walk away with his head held high.
03 Mar 2026 12:41:34
No Oli, Slot and the sports science team made changes. Obviously, the sports science team thought it was the better way to go. The days of coaches having total control are over. Most of you know this. It doesn't suit your argument, but that doesn't change the fact that you know this.
03 Mar 2026 13:19:58
Varry, he got £450m of players. Dress it up however you want with net spend, but the fact is we spent £450m on incomings. I'm not interested in the excuses or the technicalities. If you spend that much, you should not be dropping from Champions to fighting for a top 5 finish.
03 Mar 2026 13:43:24
Florian Musiala, Ruben Peeters, the Head of Performance, is Arne Slot's man. The strong injury record at Feyenoord was one of the factors that attracted the directors to Slot, given our injury issues during the Klopp era.
Let's not twist the facts and keep absolving him of blame. The Head Coach is responsible for everything that happens on the pitch, including training and preparations.
03 Mar 2026 13:44:27
Rubbish, FM, unfortunately. Slot is in charge of the team. This includes how they are coached, and that also, obviously, includes the fitness of the squad. It's his baby to dictate and implement how to approach and play the season.
He's made a balls of all of that. And I fully agree, MKS. If JK had received the resources that were awarded to AS last summer, we'd be all over the PL and CL without a shadow of a doubt.
03 Mar 2026 13:53:01
If Paisley got 450m of players, he would have won the treble too, but neither he nor Klopp were available, so your argument is redundant.
Which manager should we have brought in at the beginning of the summer that would win us the treble?
BTW, you do realise that the treble is still mathematically possible?
03 Mar 2026 14:48:00
Pls @Pelican and @Shankly, let Florian speak. It is just comedy gold watching him tie himself in knots trying to defend Slot by making things up in his head to try and subvert the facts that many of us have known esp. on this topic since last season.
Then, he will accuse others like me you and you of making things up to take a swipe at the guy. The hypocrisy is deafening.
Memo to Florian: You may love Slot and have a large poster of him plastered all over the walls in your basement. That is fine and dandy and I mean this honestly.
What we will NOT be having is you making up stuff out of thin air to support and defend his reprehensible management of this team by using nitpicking techniques and technicalities to get him outta of the jail his conduct deserves.
Nope, that dog won't hunt.
03 Mar 2026 15:00:45
With all due respect, De, I actually do not believe that last summer, even 1 person on this forum, was thinking about a different long term manager at the helm other than Arne Slot.
I also believe that there's not 1 person on this forum, be they pro Slot or anti Slot, who does not think that Klopp would have done better with the current squad than Slot is doing.
03 Mar 2026 15:01:41
Florian Musiala - He's the head coach at the end of the day, so he absolutely has power over conditioning. If he turns and tells them he's concerned with fatigue in the latter stages of the season and wants to dial back the intensity, they're going to listen. As I said, we still have considerable moves to make in the transfer market, losing out on anywhere up to 200 million from CL revenue, along with the hindrance it puts in our ability to attract potential targets, far outweighs the bragging rights of winning the FA Cup right now.
Varry Benison - Slot got £450 million worth of players. That's what they cost, that's what they're worth. There's absolutely no doubt about it. Trying to take away from that because we also made sales is like telling your tax man your £100k Mercedes is only worth 50k because you sold your old one. Nobody's ever claimed, "Slot got £450m worth of players and didn't have to sell any," which is the point you're arguing against. Not to mention, every purchase was seen as an improvement.
03 Mar 2026 15:23:02
Woof woof, Oli.
03 Mar 2026 15:42:11
Oli, I like Slot the way I like any other LFC manager. I like the club more though. The day after Jurgen was gone I couldn't have given a toss, while most of you were crying into yis'r tissues. I was moved onto the next man and our upcoming season. And I'll be the exact same when Slot goes. You saying I'm the one who's made things up all season and have nitpicked is hilarious. What really happened was a loada grown men looked at the season like 10 year olds.
"We won the league last year and spent the most money so we HAVE to win it again this year." That's not the way it works. You think what ye want, Oli, I'll keep on supporting the LFC manager while you and the gang half hope we lose games and go outa competitions so that you can prove your point on an anonymous fan forum.
03 Mar 2026 15:59:11
Composure, Florian. It's ok to get some things wrong. We are just a bunch of fans discussing the team we love. It's ok to be wrong. :)
03 Mar 2026 16:06:31
I'll let you know when it happens, Fly. Very, very rare though.
03 Mar 2026 16:22:13
Florian Musiala - The fact that you're defending him to the hills, but just admitted the second he walks you won't give a rats ass, is hilarious. And saying you didn't care when Klopp left. That all says a lot. Nobody said we have to win the league, but based on the fact that we won last year, we have a great squad and brought in £450 million worth of serious top-flight talent, not being in the race is unacceptable. And yeah, that's exactly how it works. Not only are we not in the race, but we'll be lucky to even make top 5.
We went on the worst run of form in 70 years under the guidance of a manager whose blatant refusal to adapt had a clear effect on results. We're 7 months into the season and only now is a squad full of elite professional athletes starting to look fully fit, by the manager's own admission. Nonetheless, 10 games left, and we're finally match fit. What a joke. None of that is acceptable, mate, not one bit of it. But if you want a hill to die on only to roll down it, you go right ahead, you might as well.
03 Mar 2026 16:33:05
What's hilarious about it? Once they're gone, they're gone. Same with players. What was Paisley's saying, "Let their legs go on someone else's pitch?" I was surprised by how I was about Klopp, but he made a decision, for the good of him and his family.
Thanks a lot, Jurgen, but I've a team to support. I'll book all my hotel rooms through Trivago if it makes you feel better.
03 Mar 2026 16:50:46
Put your handbag away, FM.
03 Mar 2026 17:54:50
Hey Salah, what you reckon for tonight's game? We going to smash em?
03 Mar 2026 17:59:01
Jesus Christ, I went through 2 tubs of popcorn reading that.
Personally, I'd love Slot to get us playing more attractive football, winning games, and back challenging for the league. It's also ok to admit that, at times (a lot of times), this season we've been horrid to watch, and we were out of the title race in November and are currently 21 points worse off than this time last season.
Would I be over the moon if Slot won us the CL this season? You bet your life I would be, and I'd be in the crowd for the open top bus celebrations.
All these things can be correct at the same time. It doesn't have to be 100% positive or negative only.
Anyways, I'm off to the shop to get some more popcorn.
03 Mar 2026 18:08:58
Fm, tough one tonight. Typical, we get Wolves away just after they've taken 4 points off Arsenal and Villa.
Usually I'd say we'll win both games in 3 days, but I can see us winning on le and drawing/losing the other.
Personally, if we were to lose one, then it would be the FA Cup, as CL qual is far more important. However, what do I know, and hopefully we win both.
03 Mar 2026 18:18:16
Yeh, much tougher proposition than it would have been earlier in the season. If we can keep up the recent improvement on setpieces, I think we can get the 2 wins.
03 Mar 2026 19:45:32
FM, none of anything that you said in what you posted has anything to do with me as I never cried when Klopp said he was going. I was actually happy for him because I cared for him as a person.
Secondly, I don't know who the 10 year olds were BUT I ain't one of them who did whatever the football you are referring to.
Nor did I say ever Slot had to win the title this season because he won it last season.
Again, all that bluster got nothing to do with me because like you always blame others for doing, made all of that stuff up and included me in your delusion.
Support who you like as that is your right. Just don't tell lies and massage the truth in a bid to glaze his pathetic record for this season. because I and others will be there to call it out. It's that simple.
04 Mar 2026 05:02:20
Funny, being in America and just having finished watching the game, then coming here to catch up on everything. HERE, in this thread, I see one Slot supporter continuing to support (no where else on this site), and realize it's all from before the game. Sorry kids, it's all bad. The management, tactics, fitness, subs, everything.