The surprise dismissal of Arne Slot was swiftly followed by reports billing Andoni Iraola as the front-runner to take over Liverpool. Yet, in the face of widespread acclaim from large sections of the fanbase, the club’s greatest ever player was not entirely sold.
Steven Gerrard never criticized Slot as fiercely as some other pundits. The retired midfielder’s penchant for caution extended towards his potential successor, who is widely considered to be the only possible candidate to arrive in the Anfield dugout this summer. The relationship between Iraola and Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes, who used to hold the same role at Bournemouth, has underpinned this presumed certainty.
Gerrard’s argument was simple: others have to be considered.
“I think he has done a fabulous job at Bournemouth,” the Champions League winner said of Iraola while serving as a pundit on TNT Sports over the weekend. “I think his style would suit Liverpool. Let’s not beat around the bush, Liverpool Football Club is an attractive job for a lot of elite managers around the world, so I don’t think he will be the only name on the table.
“But because of the link to Bournemouth and the guys that have come from Bournemouth to Liverpool in terms of board level, they will know him very well. But then there are other names out there as well that I am sure would want that Liverpool job.
“It’s a huge job in world football. I think he should be in the conversation, yes.”
Jamie Carragher, Gerrard’s former Liverpool teammates, was even more forthright in his concerns about Iraola, outlining some “huge question marks” during a dialogue with Sky Sports. “The way he plays is definitely the way Liverpool want to go back to: high-intensity football,” the ex-defender accepted. “We know he’s fantastic at that, but it’s not just all about that when you’re the Liverpool manager.”
“My worry is,” Carragher explained, “can you play at that intensity when you’re playing every three days, and that was only getting played once a week with Bournemouth. That is completely different. Whenever you’re bringing a manager in for a top club in England, you’re thinking, ‘Can he win me the league?’ That’s a big question mark around him, or any manager coming in, but Liverpool had a manager who’s won the league, so that’s why I was always torn.”
Liverpool Legends Give Verdict on Slot Sacking
Gerrard’s initial reaction to the surprise news was sympathy. “Gutted for Arne Slot because in his first year, he had done an incredible job,” the legendary figure lamented. “Taking the reins from Jürgen Klopp, that was a tough task and big shoes to fill, and he had done it seamlessly.
“It’s very difficult to win the Premier League, and I know that more than most, so for him to deliver that in year one cannot be forgotten, so I think he will go down in the history books and be remembered forever.”
However, Gerrard ultimately came to the conclusion that Slot had not justified one campaign of merely Champions League qualification. “Having said that, in the last 10 games of last season and the majority of this season, we have not looked like Liverpool,” he damningly admitted.
“The style, it has been difficult to watch at times. It looks disjointed, broken, and when I got the news, of course, your initial reaction is surprise and shock, but when you analyse it properly, it’s probably the right time in my opinion.”
Liverpool have already lost nine Premier League games this season. pic.twitter.com/ewET46ZtYj
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) March 3, 2026
Carragher was in two minds about the decision. “I was torn on Arne Slot,” he explained. “I would have almost backed any decision and I could see both sides of the argument, but it is a shock.
“I think an elite football manager, the absolute crème de la crème, probably finds a way of fixing Liverpool last season at some stage and making it better, but he wasn’t helped with recruitment.
“Should those players have done more? A lot more, yes. Should the people above them have given them a better squad going into this season? Yes.
“There’s a lot of people to point the fingers at where Liverpool were last season, and also the players who were there the year before, a complete contrast in their performances.”
