Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

54and56 · 27-05-2026 11:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124504229#Comment_124504229

Which half way through a total team transition, plus a player fatality, is not that surprising is it?

The time to judge the success of a transition project is after its been completed and we're not there yet.

bike2wkr · 28-05-2026 12:00AM

Slot will be gone by Christmas. Can't see him seriously turning around this

awec · 28-05-2026 12:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505129#Comment_124505129

please, educate us all as to which part of this you think is a conspiracy theory. I’m dying to know.

giveitholly · 28-05-2026 12:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505126#Comment_124505126

Of course any team that wins anything relies on a lot of factors to reach the end goal. At that rate Arsenal got lucky this season because they finished on similar points as us last season.

The thing is all these factors weren't been brought up last season as we were romping to the title. But when this season went to shiite a good few posters here were trying to absolve Slot of any credit for winning the league last season. Plenty of revisionism went on. Slot got Klopps team over the line with 4 games to spare and was on course for 90 points if needed.

A good few posters(I am not saying you are one) have tried to belittle his achievement last season. He got a squad over the line that unfortunately Klopp couldn't the previous season. And you can talk about City/Arsenal having poor seasons last season if you want but in klopps last season we were top with 7/8 games to go and wilted away poorly to finish 3rd. Imo it was a very poor end to the season. In hindsight Klopp was probably burnt out at that stage.

And the thing is,if Klopp had stayed on there is a very good chance Salah wouldn't of been around last season with all the rumours circulating that they had a frosty relationship.

And I presume any club that wins the league with a points total in the 80-85 bracket will be fortunate?

Appletart Upsetter · 28-05-2026 06:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505110#Comment_124505110

What I'm referring to is the nastiness of some of the commentary around him from Liverpool fans and how quickly these fans turned on the manager so soon after winning the league.

A lot of it is driven by popular fan accounts, sponsored by dodgy online casinos such as Rainbet, spreading misinformation for clicks.

I have no issue with someone thinking he's not the right guy for the job (I think that myself at present) but given everything he's had to deal with this season, he should be given a little more empathy. His achievement in 24/25 celebrated, not undermined.

8-10 · 28-05-2026 07:12AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505139#Comment_124505139

The problem that he has is how high the bar is for turning it around. Performance improvement isn't enough without winning games at a league-winning rate and results won't be enough without performances

He's going to drop points early in the season and the fan pressure will be huge because he's already lost the trust of a significant portion of the fan base

machiavellianme · 28-05-2026 07:19AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505126#Comment_124505126

But he doesn't have a peak Salah playing the season of his life anymore. 2 seasons ago is ancient history now. The team he inherited from Klopp is largely gone (or soon will be) and the team he is building got outrun by Chelsea and Spurs (at home) while cruising to a record number of defeats. He's had more than enough chances since last November to try something different and he persisted with chucking on every fit attacker at the 70th minute in every game he was chasing. He had nothing new or creative to offer.

I wouldn't expect someone to ignore everything Hitler did after 1938 just because he drew a nice picture in 1937. The here and now of the present can't be ignored forever because of some revisionist nonsense being pushed by the club to save their blushes. He'll be gone by Christmas, so why waste time and write off a season when he can be dropped now?

54and56 · 28-05-2026 07:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505261#Comment_124505261

What revisionist nonsense is being pushed by the club and how exactly are they pushing it?

.red. · 28-05-2026 08:22AM

What I reckon we need for the coming season.

A proper DM, preferably somebody 26+ who has a few years experience under his belt.

A RB, I like Bradley but he's injury prone and I'm not sure Frimpong is the answer. Somebody towards the end of a contract and maybe gets brought in on a low fee but decent wages and could rotate with Bradley would do. Go against the FSG norm and sign somebody who's 28/29 without the need to sell on in a few years.

A pacey winger, maybe 2. Rio looks the real deal but I doubt we'll see him start 20+ games next season. Isak played his best football when he had runners getting the ball in quickly. Hopefully Sweden get knocked out of the world cup early and he gets a rest and some bit of a preseason.

redoctober · 28-05-2026 09:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505150#Comment_124505150

Some fair points in there. I suppose this season has been so bad that it makes you question everything. Last season felt like we did enough and Slot was a steady hand. It wasn't flashy but we won a lot of games and sealed the league fairly comfortably. But then this season happened and you wonder was he just coaxing along Klopp's team with a few tweaks. There are many things that make you question if he has the credentials. So I think that's where a lot of the revisionism is coming from. I've posted previously that there are caveats for Slot. He's had to deal with a lot of injuries, a death in the team (!), a lot of change to the squad which probably wouldn't have been his choice. So we do need to be fair to him about those things.

Where he hasn't helped himself is in the bizarre comments at times and his seeming lack of empathy with his players. Now those things could be just symptoms of a man under massive stress/scrutiny. We don't know. I think August to Christmas will tell us a lot next season. If we see a pattern of play and round pegs in round holes, I think fans will settle down.

As others posted, the selling point of Slot was that he would follow on in Klopp's way of playing. That hasn't happened and even 24/25 we weren't that great to watch but were effective.

Appletart Upsetter · 28-05-2026 09:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505395#Comment_124505395

One thing I think people forget about Klopps last season was the amount of times they went behind in games. 18 times they went behind, winning 7, drawing 7 and losing 4. That lack of control was a real big problem for Klopp and probably explains why the team fell away at the end. It's just not sustainable to keep playing like that even if it's exciting for the fans.

When Slot arrived, he immediately set about stopping this, having more control in games and conserving energy. It worked brilliantly and was the main reason we won the league. It is clear that this has not worked this season. For all the various reasons that have been discussed as nauseam!

giveitholly · 28-05-2026 09:41AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505395#Comment_124505395

Again all good points you have made,I have no arguments with anyone criticising Slot for the way we played the season gone,plus a few posters were bringing it up towards the end of the season we won the league. That is all fair.

And of course his credentials can be questioned as regards if he can take us forward long term. Imo the way this season has gone I can't see him been able to turn it around but I hope I am wrong. I also totally understand why some posters want him gone. That is justified as well.

As regards the selling point of Slot continuing Klopps way of playing? Surely this is on the club moreso than Slot. Has Slot said he wanted to continue this way? Maybe he has. But if the club brought Slot in to do this and its obviously not what he is doing,then the blame should fall at the door of the club for first appointing him and secondly sticking with him. Posters are just having a go at Slot the whole time instead of looking at the bigger picture.

Getting back to your comment about Slot coaxing along Klopps team with a few tweaks. If that is the case then surely he should be praised that it ended up with us winning the league? Why can't the posters acknowledge Slot for doing that. We have 2 league titles in the last 35 years and all some posters want to do is put down last years win as a fluke.

McFly85 · 28-05-2026 09:59AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505478#Comment_124505478

I think a lot of the people who’ve turned against Slot have decided that he’s not a top level coach, and obviously winning a league title is a very strong point against that, so the natural argument for these people is - well, he must not have had much to do with our title win then, it was really Klopps team etc. despite a lot of evidence to the contrary.

You can go back on this thread and see people suggest that Slot should take it upon himself to walk because he knows he’s not up to it - mad stuff, something no manager would be expected to do, much less a title winning one.

There’s plenty to criticise this season and the lethargic displays simply cannot continue, and wanting him replaced is perfectly valid. But he’s a top level coach, no question. What he isn’t, is Klopp. But nobody is. We hit the lottery with that man, nobody on the planet we could get could do what he did, and anyone expecting that level of performance will be disappointed with whoever we get. Do I think the fans screaming for Slot to leave will have patience with Iraola? Or if we’re here in 12 months not competing again will they be calling for someone else, hoping next time we can live up to Klopp? I suspect the latter, and really, it’s a fools errand.

Bacchus · 28-05-2026 10:14AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505261#Comment_124505261

Only took 4 days since the season ended for Godwin's Law to kick in. Thought we might have lasted at least until one of our transfer targets went to another club.

Bacchus · 28-05-2026 10:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505453#Comment_124505453

Yeah I remember this time last year that my own opinion was that we needed more attacking threats than just Salah. We had no real Plan B. Under Slot we had moved away from the "outscore the opposition" approach with Klopp, but we still needed to produce goals from somewhere. So I was delighted with Isak, Frimpong, Wirtz, Kerkez and Ekiteke coming in. Our right wing becoming ineffective (what worked with Trent and Salah in 24/25 didn't work without Trent and with a Salah in decline), and the mess with Isak's fitness just sort neutered the attempt to create an effective attack. Without that, teams were braver at taking us on and then our frailties at the back were exposed due to years of neglect in building cover for VVD and Konate. Add the injuries, Jota's death. There were so many problems. There are still aspects to our season that I think Slot should have done better but I'm willing to put this season down to a perfect storm of problems and see how next season goes.

IrishOwl... · 28-05-2026 10:36AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505126#Comment_124505126

I'm sorry, but that's a bit of nonsense. I can think of maybe three or four title winners in the last 30 odd years who looked fully in control from start to finish. Every champion needs things to fall their way, rivals slipping up, key players delivering, lucky bounces, favourable decisions, momentum at the right time. That’s football.

Do you think Arsenal fans would say, “We only won because City were poor” or “the champions were off the boil”? Of course they wouldn’t. They’d say Arsenal earned it over 38 games, and rightly so. By that logic, you could also argue City, Liverpool and Arsenal only started winning because United completely fell away. Every title is won within the context of the competition around you.

It’s not that people don’t take these things into account when judging title winning sides. What’s bizarre is that some Liverpool fans only seem willing to acknowledge them now, while ignoring the factors that helped get them over the line in the first place. And they ignore the fact that 95% of Premier League winners relied on those same things, rivals dropping off, momentum swings, players peaking, luck and timing all going in their favour at different points of the season.

They key reasons why Liverpool won a title last season was because Slot moved away from Klopp’s increasingly exposed “heavy metal” football, got a historic level out of Salah, and relied heavily on Mac Allister and Gravenberch controlling games in midfield. This season, teams have figured Liverpool out, Salah’s influence has been managed far better, both midfielders have dropped off badly, and Slot has looked short of answers trying to find another way to make them work.

redoctober · 28-05-2026 10:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505514#Comment_124505514

Yes. I agree with your last paragraph. I think we're all just frustrated with how things have gone. Someone has to be blamed and that is Slot right now as well as the owners/mgmt. TBF we don't know what's gone on behind closed doors. Slot might have very limited power in signings etc and so just has to deal with the players he's given. There were rumours that he didn't want to sell Diaz which we could all empathise with. So it's hard to tell without knowing all the ins and outs.

What Slot isn't as you say is Klopp. Klopp was probably quite unique apart from maybe Shanks and Kenny in understanding and relating to the club and fans. Hard to replace that. We're all missing that and Klopp gave us some of the best years we've had even if he didn't win all that he might have. The minimum that would make Slot acceptable would be a solidity and quiet efficiency. This season has been a complete disaster and Slot's explanations have been strange sometimes. I really think he should just not say anything at times because he just digs a hole for himself. When the team is awful there's not much the manager can say to assuage fans really. Slot would be better off just getting on with the business of making us better rather than mentioning things like we've won 2 leagues in 35 years (so we should count ourselves lucky) for example.

jem · 28-05-2026 10:51AM

One of my fears is that we have lost and are losing again this year the older leaders in the squad. I can see Virgil and Allison going next year. I think it is a mistake in not offering Andy a new contract. Is he as good as he was a couple of years ago - no - is he better than the Greek scouser yes. Do we have more important positions to fill this year and next yes.

I remember rafa signing a load of captains from other clubs to make sure there was leadership on the pitch and in the squad.

Young is great but you need experience as well. I also worry about potentially signing the dionmande. yes he looks brilliant in Germany but so did sancho wirner, simmons at spurs Nkunka . Yes I know haaland has been amazing but the is the exception. I do think that the strength of the german league is so much lower at the middle /bottom level that attackers can look far better there than they actually are.

fplfan12345 · 28-05-2026 10:53AM

I’m delighted the owners are calling the shots and are not listening to the fans or conceding to media pressure when it comes to who they employ. It’s great precedent to set. It stops negative media attention around our club when things aren’t going great. The media have been sacking managers for years because some club owners are weak and care more about perception than achievement.

Its a good opportunity for the fans to learn that they can’t always get what they want and the owners will do what they see as the right thing and not bow to pressure for the sake of popularity.

I wanted Slot to get another year. I did waiver after the recent Chelsea game but the owners have made a decision so it’s all put to bed now.

Jurgen made a comment after a game, early on, about fans leaving early and ‘feeling alone’. I assumed it was a reference to our song. It was classic Jurgen, effectively ‘it’s easy to support me and us when it’s all going great but your support is ALWAYS needed’. Legend.

The fans calling for Slot’s head have no respect for what he achieved last season and no respect for our owners who have been unimaginably brilliant for the club.

I hope Slot nails it again next year.

We desperately need 1-2 quality DM’s and I hope the club find the right players for him.

awec · 28-05-2026 11:02AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505590#Comment_124505590

Absolutely nobody has said we didn't earn it last year. Absolutely nobody has said you need to be in complete control from start to finish.

Slot turned a team of Champions into a team that was both hard to watch and easy to beat. There are people on here bending over backwards trying to find excuses for this.

The point being made is you can't invest so much time trying to find excuses for this season, and talk as if winning the league last year means everything we've seen for the past year can be totally ignored, if you're then going to express faux-outrage when someone points out some factors that went in Slot's favour last year.

Again, we're back to this "Slot is entirely responsible for the good bits, and not responsible for the bad bits" rubbish.

Anyway, next season we'll either continue on from where we left off this season or Slot will have us back challenging again. Unfortunately it looks like we're stuck with him.

There are some fans who will continue to back him on blind faith alone, and those who are not convinced, one group is going to look pretty foolish.

dogbert27 · 28-05-2026 11:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505658#Comment_124505658

And I would very gladly take looking foolish if he turns this around rather than the other way.

brevity · 28-05-2026 11:44AM

Slot turned a team of Champions into a team that was both hard to watch and easy to beat. There are people on here bending over backwards trying to find excuses for this.

I don’t think that’s quite fair imo.

There is no need to find excuses as there are actual valid reasons as to why it’s been a bad season. New players bedding in, a poor preseason, a change in back room staff, senior players moving on. In any one season it’s manageable but altogether it’s very difficult.

I think Slot should have managed the midfield better. I think he should have made us hard to beat in the first instance. The defence and midfield were largely the same aside from the LB and RB positions but we really shouldn’t have been so wide open at times.

@awec

Bacchus · 28-05-2026 11:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505658#Comment_124505658

You've been implying that Slot got lucky last year. This from just 2 pages back….

"Do you not think it's just as likely that Slot got lucky with a perfect storm last year, inheriting Klopps team, not changing much (anything) and Arsenal and City having poor seasons, as it is that he is a managerial genius?"

So was it luck? Did he just inherit a team that was going to win it anyway?

Another nugget from yourself…

"He won the league last year but we were very poor at the end of the season, we won the league thanks to how good we were early in the season and how poor City and Arsenal were."

I know you're not explicitly saying we/Slot "didn't earn it" but there's a pattern to your posts that we just got lucky.

awec · 28-05-2026 11:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505801#Comment_124505801

I think both points are absolutely valid.

Is it just as likely that Slot got lucky last year as it is that he is a managerial genius. I know many are absolutely convinced that it's entirely down to Slot's managerial genius that we won the league last year, but IMO we'd have won the league under Klopp last year easily, and the 25/26 season calls into question just how much of last year was down to Slot's ability as a manager and how much was down to him inheriting an incredibly good team.

And yes, we fell off at the end of last season. You can find many posts on this thread from that time expressing concern about our form, and Slot's selection policies from posters other than me. We went on an amazing run early in the season that saw us build up a big lead (helped City and Arsenal being poor).

I am thoroughly unconvinced by him. As I said, we are hard to watch and easy to beat. He makes clueless substitutions. He repeatedly says stupid things publicly.

For those who continue to back him, they are doing so on blind faith alone. Which is fair enough, but that's a bridge too far for me. We'll find out next season which of the 24/25 or 25/26 versions of Slot is the real one.

dogbert27 · 28-05-2026 11:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505590#Comment_124505590

The changes that he made at the start of the 24/25 system were effective.

Curtis Jones commented on it in pre-season and it was seen in the patterns of play in the pre-season game.

Mo Salah also said that there was an agreement with Slot that if he was allowed to stay forward and not support defending then he would deliver more output.

Losing out on signing Zubemendi as a DM and using Gravenberch instead was on Slot.

However in an interview last Autumn, I think with Sky, Slot admitted that around February 2025 teams had begun to figure out how to play against his system, shown up in the biggest example by Newcastle in the League Cup final.

Salah's had 29 goals and 18 assists in the league in the 24/25 season. 20 of these goals were before February and 15 of the assists were before February.

We had put ourselves in to such a position at that point that momentum kept the team going to get over the line in 2 months but those 2 months included a defeat to Fulham, a draw with Everton, a nervous 1-0 against relegation side Leicester and a nervous 2-1 (last minute winner) against a poor West Ham.

We got the win we needed at the end of April against a poor Spurs side who were on the edge of relegation.

Our last 4 games we got 2 points out of 12 where there is the argument that the players didn't have to try anymore but that also masks over the question on whether tactically we were found out.

Unfortunately again in a post match interview last autumn after the Brentford defeat he again admitted that teams had figured out how to play against us and he did not have an answer to it yet.

The season is finished and there was still no obvious answer from Slot.

That is why there are posters here who are rightly concerned.

IrishOwl... · 28-05-2026 12:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505825#Comment_124505825

I don’t disagree with any of that. I even pointed out in my post that Slot hasn’t figured out a way to counter what the opposition is doing against him.

To me, if you stand back and look at Liverpool, they’re exactly where they were in 2022/23. Liverpool went into that season on the back of a good year before. Klopp brought in Nunez convinced he would be the one to drag them over the line. What he hadn’t factored in was that his midfield would fall to pieces, and the season became a massive struggle.

I think people forget just how dreadful they were that year, and Klopp himself seemed clueless about how to fix it. He kept sending them out week after week with his usual high-intensity, high-octane football, and they got overrun most weeks. Liverpool had some terrible defeats that season: humiliations against Napoli and Real Madrid in Europe, 3–0 losses to Wolves, Brighton and Brentford, as well as home defeats to the likes of Leeds.

The difference now seems to be that the fans trusted Klopp could turn it around if he was given a few transfer windows. They don’t appear to have the same faith in Slot. I’m not convinced he can do it myself, but I also wouldn’t be trying to pick flaws in a title-winning team just to prove that point.

awec · 28-05-2026 12:33PM

A few quotes from this thread from April last year. I didn't even bother looking hard.

The issues this season did not come out of the blue.

He'll win the Premier League in his first season which is a great achievement in itself but I have a growing fear that it could be the highlight of his career at Liverpool. Given the injury issues at Man City any team that was in a position to put a run of games together would have been in a position to challenge for the league title. Fortunately for Slot he landed at a club that had a squad of players that could do so.

Next season will be a lot different and if he persists with the same pattern of utilising only a portion of the squad then I see there being little chance of us challenging for anything at the business end of the season.

—

Slot has taken a high-risk approach with the squad, relying heavily on the same players and getting lucky with a lack of high profile injuries.

Maybe he will use the squad better next season if he has a few more of his own signings, I really hope so, either way, he will absolutely have to because eventually this high-risk approach will catch up to us.

Everyone wants Slot to deliver sustained success, not a league title every season obviously, but we don't want a flash-in-the-pan manager who the stars align for in season 1 but gets crushed in subsequent seasons cause injuries and fatigue kills us after Christmas.

—

Shambolic at the back again

—

Christ we are bad. Our entire defence needs improving.

—

The complete lack of application, effort and concentration today is quite something. They deserve an almighty bollocking.

—

We have been looking for a "statement" win since beating City and Newcastle back in late Feb, and it hasn't really happened. Obviously we're still almost certain to win the league, but it does feel like we have been struggling for a few games now. It's like we put so much effort into getting to this position since the start of the season that we don't have a lot left to keep on giving 100%. And obviously mentally it's harder to keep pushing and pushing when you know it's practically in the bag. I do think it shows that no matter how strong and consistent we have been for most of the season, we do need changes to our squad, and I really really do hope that happens this summer, it feels like ages since we have upgraded the team!

A title is a title, I don't really care how we play the last few games to be honest, as long as we win it. But it would be nice to win 2 or 3 on the trot now to kill it off, and finish off well, maybe hitting the high 80s or even 90 points, though that will require us rediscovering our form a bit! One game a week will give us time to rest, but also means our rhythm changes. Let's just get it done and enjoy the celebrations!

Bacchus · 28-05-2026 12:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505821#Comment_124505821

That's well and good that you aren't convinced by Slot but what I quoted sort of flies in the face of your comment that "Absolutely nobody has said we didn't earn it last year". To say it was luck implies it wasn't earned. You're doubling down on that again here saying Klopp would have won easily and Slot's success was down to inheriting a title winning team. All this diminishes Slots achievement (in turn implying you don't believe he earned that title). You're also sitting yourself on both sides of the fence… could have been luck… could be he's a genius. Which ever way next season goes you can just fall back and say "yeah I told you all along it was luck the first season", or "yeah, I always said he could be a genius". If you're unconvinced by him, fine, there's plenty to go on this season to go after him on (and I'd agree with much of it I'm sure) but suggesting last season was luck or in any way handed to him by an inherited squad is an unfair assessment of that season and of Slot.

On your concern of our form last season… what form were you concerned about exactly?? This was our PL form…

WWWLWWWWDWWWWDDWWWDDWWWDWDWWWWLWWW (title won) LDLD

It just feels like you're using this season as a stick to beat Slot with for last season.

Electric Nitwit · 28-05-2026 01:13PM

This doesn't say anything we don't already know, but the season review from Pearce is free to read...

https://twitter.com/JamesPearceLFC/status/2059925014200115526?s=20

awec · 28-05-2026 01:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124505955#Comment_124505955

Our standard dipped significantly at the end of the season. Looking at results alone masks this. Don't know why people keep ignoring this fact.

Like we won the first 5 games of this season but we were not good. "It's just early season jitters", "it's the sign of a good team to win when not playing well" was the positive spin many tried to put on it. Guess what, it turns out that it was the standard that was our constant and the results were the temporary thing.

The start of this season was a continuation of the end of last season. Yea, some new faces, but we there's too many mental gymnastics required to completely overlook the issues that were already starting to appear before the summer.

I do not think it is unfair to call out that while Slot achieved something great in his first season, it was not without issue and the cracks on his ability to lead the team had already started to show long before August 2025. Thankfully, due to both how strongly we started the season, our ability to dig out results, and City and Arsenal being poor, the dip in form did not cost us.

But our luck eventually ran out.

I have seen absolutely nothing from Slot that suggests he has any clue how to turn this around. We haven't improved at all through the season. People are putting a lot of faith in the idea that Liverpool from August → January last season is Slot's real standard, and that the standard since then is an aberration.

Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

Comments