Arne Slot appears to be a dead man walking after Liverpool owners FSG took the first step towards sacking the Dutchman, and three Reds stars – including arguably their player of the season, Dominik Szoboszlai – have been accused of letting Slot down.
The international break was supposed to serve as the launching pad for Liverpool to salvage what, since about five weeks in, has looked a campaign destined for disaster. Instead, an encouraging half-hour at the Etihad on Saturday quickly gave way to the usual capitulation, with Liverpool humiliated by a side they used to go toe-to-toe with in the Jurgen Klopp era.
The manner of the defeat has ratcheted the pressure up on Slot, according to The Athletic’s James Pearce. The sight of most of Liverpool’s travelling fans leaving early on Saturday will not have gone unnoticed by owners FSG.
According to information provided to our insider Graeme Bailey, the club have expedited their end-of-season review. A review of the campaign and Slot’s position was always pencilled in, but sources explained the decision has been taken to begin the review early – and it is now well underway.
Liverpool will take everything into consideration, though many fans cannot look past on-field results, which, to put it bluntly, are pathetic. The Reds have lost 15 matches across all competitions this term, though the club’s decline actually began in the second half of last season. Liverpool tasted defeat eight times in the latter half of the previous campaign, meaning they have lost 23 matches since the beginning of 2025.
Ultimately, it will be down to FSG and the likes of Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes to determine whether that is acceptable.
According to the latest from the Daily Mail’s Merseyside correspondent Lewis Steele, there are a handful of Liverpool players who have let their manager down. Steele was keen to stress that the buck stops with Slot, and that ultimately he must be held responsible for Liverpool’s demise.
Nevertheless, Steele zeroed in on Mohamed Salah, as well as highlighting the ill-advised actions of Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike on Saturday as incidents that have not helped Slot’s increasingly desperate cause.
He wrote: “Slot is not the only man to blame, of course. This squad is brimming with talent but none have performed to the standards they set last year.
“Some incidents, like Hugo Ekitike giving Rayan Cherki his shirt [mid-match] or Dominik Szoboszlai appearing to be annoyed at fans leaving, are not a great look.
“Mohamed Salah, who is starting his farewell tour, seems devoid of confidence as City keeper James Trafford denied him multiple times, once from the penalty spot. The defence wilted and City played through the Liverpool midfield like a hot knife through butter.
“But the buck ultimately stops with Slot, who has overseen 12 months of stinking performances, starting with the Carabao Cup final last spring. Does he have the answers to change the trajectory of this team? Right now, it does not seem like he does.
“The hierarchy at Anfield are measured and not trigger-happy so may retain backing of Slot right now. But as they watched 7,000 fans voting with their feet by turning their backs to leave early, is it time for the head coach’s position to be seriously scrutinised?”
The numbers do not lie. A team that once prided itself on relentless intensity and tactical cohesion has unravelled with alarming speed. What began as a promising transition under Slot has morphed into a full-scale crisis, with familiar frailties – defensive fragility, midfield bypasses, and a glaring lack of confidence in key individuals – now exposed on a weekly basis.
Szoboszlai, long regarded as one of the brightest sparks in the squad and a contender for player of the season, finds himself under the microscope for body language that suggested frustration with supporters rather than self-reflection. Ekitike’s mid-match gesture of handing his shirt to an opponent only added to the perception of a squad lacking focus and unity. Meanwhile, Salah – the talismanic forward whose departure is already being framed as a farewell tour – appeared unrecognisable from the clinical finisher who carried Liverpool through so many campaigns.
These individual moments, while not the root cause, have become symbolic of a wider malaise. The players entrusted with delivering Slot’s vision have, at critical junctures, appeared disconnected from it. Yet Steele’s analysis is clear: accountability begins and ends at the top. Slot was hired to evolve Liverpool’s style, to build on the Klopp legacy rather than merely replicate it. Twelve months on, the evidence suggests the experiment is failing.
FSG’s decision to accelerate the review process is telling. Measured and patient by nature, the American owners are not prone to knee-jerk reactions. The fact they have moved early – even before the campaign has officially concluded – signals that the situation has reached a tipping point. Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes, the key decision-makers in the football operations structure, now face the unenviable task of weighing results against long-term strategy.
Can Slot turn this around? The question hangs heavily over Anfield. The hierarchy may still be willing to back him in the short term, but the optics of thousands of loyal supporters walking out midway through a match will be difficult to ignore. In football, perception often becomes reality, and the perception right now is of a club sliding backwards at pace.
Liverpool’s season was never supposed to end like this. What was billed as a fresh start under a modern, tactically astute coach has instead delivered 23 defeats in little over a year and a fanbase that is rapidly losing patience. As the review gathers momentum behind closed doors, the clock is ticking on Arne Slot’s future. For the three players spotlighted for letting their manager down, the scrutiny is personal. For Slot himself, it is existential.