Pundits explain why Arne Slot should not be fired by Liverpool

Two months ago, the thought would have been unthinkable.

At that time, Liverpool had just secured a 2-1 victory over Southampton in the Carabao Cup, with Alexander Isak netting his first goal for the club, marking seven consecutive wins in all competitions to kick off the season.

Fast forward eight weeks, and Liverpool has been knocked out of the Carabao Cup and finds itself languishing in 12th place in the Premier League table after suffering eight losses in the last 11 matches. This shocking dip in form for the Reds has led to Arne Slot facing scrutiny for the first time during his tenure, despite an impressive debut season where he guided the club to the title.

September, let alone May, now feels like a distant memory, and Saturday's dismal 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest has sparked speculation about Slot's position ahead of a crucial series of fixtures. Liverpool is performing well in the Champions League, having won three of its first four group-stage matches, and the team will be aiming to continue this momentum when it welcomes PSV on Wednesday.

However, this is followed by a demanding schedule of three Premier League games within a week, featuring away games against West Ham and Leeds, with a home match against Sunderland in between. And, in anticipation of these fixtures, pundits have been weighing in on the future of Liverpool's head coach...

Igor Biscan

Biscan said: "There is pressure, but for every manager at that level, there is always pressure. I don't think his job is in question. Even if he doesn’t win the league, just by doing what he did last year, after what happened before he arrived and how difficult his job was, it was exceptional.

"Everybody was saying it would be extremely difficult for him to really continue what Jurgen Klopp had done before him. He is a quality manager, and he deserves a lot of credit, and he needs time. There are so many new players, and you need time to make them work together. I'm really sure that they will start winning again very soon."

Gary Neville

Neville said: "There’s no way that Arne Slot should be in danger or losing his job. I’ve heard murmurs; you go on social media and all that nonsense, forget that. Some Liverpool fans will say, 'Don’t talk about my football club like that,' but come on, let’s have some sense here.

"This is a really good manager, who’s a brilliant front man for the club as well in the way he handles himself. He’s got real class. For me, he’s having a really bad time. I think he’s got to somehow reverse back down the road quite quickly and do something different, intervene and sort out what he thinks might be some really difficult decisions staring him in the face, maybe give the players a little bit of help with the make-up of the teams he is picking.

"I love the style of play, by the way. I love it when they go punch for punch, but when you’re going punch for punch with teams, and you’re not coming out on top, you do have to change that. You do have to do something different. I think the players will be expecting that of him, never mind the media and the fans.

"For Arne Slot, I think it’s a real challenging moment. He’s going to come under pressure; people are going to start saying the fatal words of, 'Is he in trouble?' But let’s not get too carried away with that."

Stephen Warnock

He told the Liverpool ECHO: "No, no, I don’t [think he’s at risk]. I know there has been a lot of talk on social media from fans, but I think with everything that has gone on over the summer, the new influx of players that have come into the football club, I think he’s got enough in the bank to turn things around.

"It’s a difficult job; if you lose games, it’s always tough, and it’s always trying to find solutions, you have to make big decisions along the way, but I don’t see him getting sacked anytime soon. However, if you go on to lose your next five, it does become difficult."

Martin Keown

Keown said: "We have to give credit to Forest for what they are doing, but yes, the wheels are coming off now for Arne Slot. Obviously, it was Jurgen Klopp's team, and he has tried to come in and make changes, but he has spent £450M on players, and they are going backwards. They have simply been undone.

"Whether it's a crisis, I don't know, it's certainly a major problem for the manager to go six defeats from seven. Unthinkable. I don't think you can win the league one year and get sacked the next. It's remarkable what we are seeing with Liverpool. Their fall from grace and to lose this many games at the start of the season, it is unthinkable really from this time last season."