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<\/p>\nArne Slot believes his future as Liverpool\u2019s head coach does not rest solely on qualifying for next season\u2019s Champions League, even though he conceded the failure to do so would be unacceptable.<\/p>\n
Slot pointed instead to how the \u00adAnfield club reacted when not reaching Europe\u2019s elite in 2022-23 under J\u00fcrgen Klopp, rebuilding the midfield and \u00adputting in place some of the foundations that then helped secure a 20th league title under Slot\u2019s command two years later.<\/p>\n
While the Dutchman said that did not \u201cguarantee\u201d 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 \u201ccircumstances\u201d that have framed a difficult campaign from the outset.<\/p>\n
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Slot still has backing for now but needs results after that \u00a3450m summer spend<\/p>\n
KATE MCSHANE\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Liverpool<\/a> travel to Sunderland<\/a> \u00adon Wednesday night with hopes of a top five \u00adPremier League finish \u2014 which will, in all \u00adlikelihood, guarantee Champions League football \u2014 on a knife edge. They trailed Chelsea by four points and Manchester United by five before last night\u2019s matches and Slot knows how missing out after last summer\u2019s \u00a3450million spending spree would look.<\/p>\n Having acknowledged falling short would \u201cdefinitely not be an acceptable season,\u201d Slot was asked what impact such a scenario would have on his position as head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is again a difficult question for me to answer because I don\u2019t decide on my future,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing I do know is that it happened before, and \u00adrecently, and it didn\u2019t affect the future of that manager. But that doesn\u2019t guarantee anything, of course.<\/p>\n \u201cIn general, [with] managers, especially at this club \u2014 maybe somewhere else it is mainly, but not only, about results \u2014 they also look at the progress the players make, the progress the team makes, the circumstances are sometimes taken into account.<\/p>\n \u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n While winning matches is imperative again for a team that has only won six of their past 20 league games, Slot\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Injuries have bitten, drawing focus on squad size and \u00adwhether Hughes and \u00adMichael Edwards, the chief executive of football for Fenway Sports Group, which owns \u00adLiverpool, could have overseen how the transfer kitty was spent any \u00addifferently.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Szoboszlai\u2019s red card against City means he is suspended for the trip to Wearside<\/p>\n PHIL NOBLE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n![\"Liverpool](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\/f0302aea-3598-4f05-9072-45f118770108.jpg\")
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