3 days ago
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Arne Slot has faced more pressure this season than many expected him to, with Liverpool failing to reproduce the form that saw the club win the title last season
Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge believes Arne Slot has only kept his job this season because of the success he enjoyed last term.
The Reds currently sit fourth in the Premier League standings but are 14 points off league leader Arsenal, having only won 10 of their 20 top-flight games.
Sitting in fifth and sixth place respectively are Chelsea and Manchester United, and over the last few days both of those clubs have taken the decision to change their manager.
Enzo Maresca quit Chelsea last week, while Ruben Amorim was dismissed on Sunday after an apparent disagreement with the his employers.
READ MORE: Oliver Glasner made feelings clear on Marc Guehi exit in January as Man City eyes transferREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah consoles crying teammate as Egypt suffer double AFCON blowAldridge believes those changes were accelerated by both clubs' desire to qualify for next season's Champions League, and suggested a similar change could be on the cards at Liverpool if the team doesn't start to improve.
"Chelsea sacked Maresca," Aldridge said in his Liverpool Echo column (Maresca actually resigned). "United have sacked Amorim. They both know how important it is to get in the top four.
"They’re doing it now rather than later to have a go at getting in the top four. They are making the change before it is too late. We should be wary of both of them.
"The owners have kept faith with Arne despite our difficult season. But if we hadn’t won the league last year, it might have been different for him. He might have lost his job too.
"There were a lot of changes in the summer. On social media, it’s all about the predictability, the lack of pace, we’re too easy to play against. It's not an attractive style of football to watch and every game is a grind.
"We’re waiting for something to change and so far it’s not happened. Hopefully something will click but it doesn’t look like anything will change drastically either.
"We’re not a club who sack managers easily. We don’t do that, we're not United. But Arne is not daft. If he doesn’t deliver, that’s the way the game is. He knows it, we all know it.
"Let’s hope he can turn it around. But we have to see some signs. We’re nine unbeaten but we’ve drawn a lot and aren’t playing well.
"And if we’re being honest, you expect that run to end on Thursday away at Arsenal."
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