Head coach Arne Slot admits Liverpool’s Premier League performance is “not good enough”, with rumours now emerging he could be sacked during the international break.
Liverpool lose more ground with dismal display at Brighton
The Reds’ nightmare title defence suffered another setback on Saturday following a 2-1 loss at Brighton.
Liverpool were expected to be contenders again this term after a record-breaking summer transfer outlay of around £450million on eight players.
Liverpool’s summer spree
Fee
Alexander Isak
£125m
Florian Wirtz
£100m
Hugo Ekitike
£69m
Milos Kerkez
£40m
Jeremie Frimpong
£29.5m
Giorgi Mamardashvili
£29m
Giovanni Leoni
£26m
Ármin Pécsi
£1.5m
But, with seven top-flight fixtures remaining, the reigning champions go into the international break sitting fifth, 21 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and with work to do secure Champions League qualification.
To offset their big-money deals, the Merseyside club reportedly recouped more than £250m from player sales last summer, which Slot cited as £300m when referring to net spend.
“It makes complete sense if you win the win league last season and you’ve spent £150m – not £450m – that expectations are high,” said the Dutchman.
“And those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.
“But at our club we are also looking at the situation and the challenges we had during the season and then we might be a bit more realistic about why this season has gone the way it has gone.
“But still it’s not good enough, no matter how many excuses I can come up with. It’s still not good enough in the position we’re in right now.”
Striker Alexander Isak joined from Newcastle for a British-record fee of £125m to complete Liverpool’s unprecedented recruitment but he has been restricted to just six top-flight starts in an injury-ravaged season.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker and forward Mohamed Salah were also injury absentees at the Amex Stadium, while top scorer Hugo Ekitike was forced off early on due to a dead leg.
“No one in England is used to the fact that there are also clubs that are selling players,” replied Slot when it was suggested few people would be sympathetic of Liverpool’s injury situation because of their spending.
“Usually in England when a club is buying for £450million, which we did, that’s adding that to the already great team you have.
“But this club has a different model and no one wants to see that and no one wants to understand this.
“That I can also understand because fans of other teams or certain pundits don’t want to tell you that we’ve sold for £300million.
“The £150m player (Isak) is never available, that’s already one thing, and Giovanni Leoni (a £26m signing from Parma) has never been available because of his injury, that’s the second thing, so now we are already going underneath what we’ve sold.
“Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m from Bayer Leverkusen) is recently much more and more available and Giorgi Mamardashvili was one of the other signings, he’s the second (choice) goalkeeper.”
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Liverpool fell to a tenth Premier League defeat of the season against Brighton on the south coast.
Liverpool return to league action at home to Fulham on April 11 following an FA Cup quarter-final at Manchester City and the first leg of their Champions League last-eight clash with holders Paris St Germain.
Journalist shares Xabi Alonso hint ahead of international break
Slot has been under pressure for some time now, but the consensus had largely been to avoid disruption, secure Champions League qualification and then make a decision in the summer.
With a position in Europe’s elite competition now in doubt however, FSG are considering making an immediate change over the international break, according to journalist Kevin Palmer.
He shared a message on social media in the aftermath of the defeat to Brighton, claiming: “That might be the end for Arne Slot at Liverpool. An interesting few days ahead.”
The message was accompanied by an image of Xabi Alonso, a Liverpool legend who has been out of work since leaving his role as Real Madrid manager in January.
A treble winner in 2023/24 with Bayer Leverkusen, the Spaniard would seem the perfect appointment to restore the emotional connect between players and fans created by Jurgen Klopp.