Arne Slot believes his future as Liverpool’s head coach does not rest solely on qualifying for next season’s Champions League, even though he conceded the failure to do so would be unacceptable.
Slot pointed instead to how the Anfield club reacted when not reaching Europe’s elite in 2022-23 under Jürgen Klopp, rebuilding the midfield and putting in place some of the foundations that then helped secure a 20th league title under Slot’s command two years later.
While the Dutchman said that did not “guarantee” the same course of action if his side fail to qualify this time around, he feels barometers such as the direction the team is going in would be taken into account, as well as the “circumstances” that have framed a difficult campaign from the outset.
Slot still has backing for now but needs results after that £450m summer spend
KATE MCSHANE/GETTY IMAGES
Liverpool travel to Sunderland on Wednesday night with hopes of a top five Premier League finish — which will, in all likelihood, guarantee Champions League football — on a knife edge. They trailed Chelsea by four points and Manchester United by five before last night’s matches and Slot knows how missing out after last summer’s £450million spending spree would look.
Having acknowledged falling short would “definitely not be an acceptable season,” Slot was asked what impact such a scenario would have on his position as head coach.
“That is again a difficult question for me to answer because I don’t decide on my future,” he said. “The only thing I do know is that it happened before, and recently, and it didn’t affect the future of that manager. But that doesn’t guarantee anything, of course.
“In general, [with] managers, especially at this club — maybe somewhere else it is mainly, but not only, about results — they also look at the progress the players make, the progress the team makes, the circumstances are sometimes taken into account.
“That is not at all clubs, but I think I am working at a club that does look at those things. As it has shown in the past when the club did not qualify for the Champions League.”
While winning matches is imperative again for a team that has only won six of their past 20 league games, Slot’s subsequent comments indicate that the sporting director, Richard Hughes, will scrutinise more than simply results. The process is more holistic than Champions League or else.
The season has been a complex one, starting with the death of Diogo Jota last July. Since then, the form of established stars such as Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, has dipped to compound the teething troubles of many of the much-vaunted new signings.
Injuries have bitten, drawing focus on squad size and whether Hughes and Michael Edwards, the chief executive of football for Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, could have overseen how the transfer kitty was spent any differently.
A dissertation could be written on that subject alone. Slot essentially has 22 players, which includes Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo who, ordinarily, he does not trust to start matches, the 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha and Joe Gomez, who has endured numerous fitness problems.
Szoboszlai’s red card against City means he is suspended for the trip to Wearside
PHIL NOBLE/REUTERS
Still, the biggest issue is where the injuries have occurred, with the absence on Wednesday night of Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong coming with Dominik Szoboszlai suspended after his red card against Manchester City on Sunday.
Endo or Curtis Jones are likely to start at right back, with Gomez only due to return to training on Tuesday after a hip injury. When Slot said he would “protect” his players in response to a question about the merits of the right back Calvin Ramsay, it was clear he does not think the 22-year-old is first-team ready.
Alexander Isak’s broken leg means forwards cannot be rotated and was referenced by Slot when asked how much Liverpool were missing Luis Díaz, who offered a different profile to both Salah and Gakpo as they like to cut inside off the flank. The Colombian was sold to Bayern Munich for £65.5million last July, having pushed to leave after a stalemate in contract discussions. Díaz has 18 goals and 14 assists for the Germans.
“It is maybe more fair to say that if Alex had been fit would we have spoken about this as well?” Slot said. “Luis Díaz is another example of how this club is run. If this club gets for a 28-year-old an offer like that, then, because it is built on sustainability, it chooses to sell a player. We are an exception in the Premier League, especially at the top of the Premier League for that.”
Díaz left for Bayern Munich last summer after failing to agree a new contract with Liverpool
CHRISTINA PAHNKE/SAMPICS/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
A fundamental question remains, chiefly whether Slot, who admitted this has been the most difficult season of his coaching career “by a mile”, is extracting the best from the resources at his disposal?
Thursday marks a year since Liverpool conceded in the 98th minute of the Merseyside derby at Everton to draw 2-2, the sort of sting in the tail that has happened on six occasions this term.
Including that game, Liverpool have won 19 of their next 40 league assignments and only kept 11 clean sheets.
A positive result against Sunderland, unbeaten at home in the league, would be timely. Liverpool’s campaign suggests a complicated night awaits.
Sunderland v Liverpool
Premier League
Wednesday, 8.15pm
TV TNT Sports 1