It came out today, less than an hour before the moment I am writing this, that Arne Slot has been sacked by Liverpool. And I do not want to say it was already late, because there is still an entire summer to adjust what needs adjusting, but he could already have been dismissed in January. The difference here is that Liverpool do not like sacking managers, because of their great and honourable history in that regard: managers stay there for a very long time, with only 22 permanent managers in the club’s history, so it is understandable.
We live in a world where people do not tend to wait for the future if the present is not good. No matter how good the manager or the players are, the manager is always the quickest person to blame, whether it is true or not. And given this context, at the first sign of a crisis, the media immediately start questioning whether a certain manager is the right one. Liverpool do not operate like that, they give time, and I actually agree with that.
Slot won the Premier League last season, in his first year at the club. But this season, 25/26, which is now coming to an end, has been a disgraceful campaign. And it was not just that: there were also the clashes with Salah, who played his final season for the club.
Slot did not do enough to deserve another season at Liverpool. And now the future should probably be Iraola, who left Bournemouth. Maybe Glasner, although I do not think he is particularly strong against teams that sit deep.
The important thing is to understand that the decision was correct, but late. It could have avoided this almost melancholic ending for legends like Robertson and Salah, who ended up leaving the club in this context.
Conclusion
A 100% correct decision, at a moment that could have come earlier, but Liverpool are naturally more careful when making decisions about managers.
Without taking any credit away from him, the Premier League won by Slot was more the team left behind by Klopp than a team built by him. When that changed, we saw what happened.