Being manager of Liverpool is more than a footballing responsibility. It’s more than professional, it’s also pastoral. It’s about being a beacon of hope and guidance during dark times. It’s what the club, fan base and local community expect of the current manager, Arne Slot.
When Liverpool tragically lost their popular striker Diogo Jota in a car crash in July, Slot delivered a tribute full of compassion. He frequently refers movingly to Jota’s grieving family. When there was a terrible incident involving a car and onlookers during Liverpool’s title parade in May, Slot again provided comfort with his thoughtful words.
All Liverpool managers going back to the great Bill Shankly in the 1960s and 1970s understood this additional expectation to their employment. Sir Kenny Dalglish took the responsibility on as club leader and emotional support during the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives. He attended funeral after funeral, four in a day at one point. It took such a toll on Dalglish’s health that his body came out in blotches and he eventually resigned.
I stayed in his house once and noticed a book about stress management on the shelf in the guest-room. Managing Liverpool is more than a football job. Bob Paisley, Gérard Houllier, Jürgen Klopp and others all took on the mantle of guiding light as well as tactician.
It's a huge pressure, one that Slot has handled well so far. Liverpool fans love him for his engagement with the community and city. It makes Kopites proud to know that when poorly children visit Liverpool’s training ground they are met, schedule permitting, by Slot. He cares.
Such empathy is why Liverpool fans will not rush in huge numbers to criticise Slot for Liverpool’s current appalling form and results. He has credit in the bank. They remember last season and the way he was named Manager of the Year for making a team inherited from Klopp more compact, putting Ryan Gravenberch at No. 6 to shield the defence, was decisive in his selections and in-game changes and made them champions. He delivered.
The Tide Has Turned for Slot
What a difference a year makes.
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) November 22, 2025
Liverpool have been humbled at home by Nottingham Forest - how do they stop the rot? pic.twitter.com/lblXmaHcpl
But Slot has to beware of the tide turning. He's under mounting scrutiny and rightly so. Liverpool fans watching their team humiliated 3–0 at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday see issues from centre-back to front that Slot fails to address. He should instruct the team to move the ball quicker from the back.
He could start Curtis Jones at right-back in the absence of the injured Conor Bradley. Withdrawing Dominik Szoboszlai into defence from his expert midfield work simply weakens Liverpool centrally. He could start Joe Gomez instead of the struggling Ibrahima Konaté at centre-back.
He can legitimately lament Liverpool’s failure to move earlier in the transfer window and recruit Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi or keep Jarell Quansah rather than offloading a promising young home-grown centre-back to Bayer Leverkusen. Quansah’s form in Germany has brought him England recognition.
Slot is accountable for Liverpool’s slump.
He could balance his substitutions better so that Liverpool do not end up in a 2-3-5 formation against Forest—too little cake, too much icing and guaranteed indigestion. Slot could instruct his players to press with greater urgency, and be more dedicated in tracking runners. Slot is not moving with all the sure-footedness of Manager of the Year.
The Challenges Slot Must Quickly Fix
Of major concern for Slot is that Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, attended the Forest shambles. Werner saw £440 million ($576 million) of FSG investment in players in the summer yield nothing. FSG has given Slot good players: 40% of the Professional Footballers’ Association Team of the Year outfield started for Slot on Saturday. Virgil van Dijk, Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Mo Salah earned the accolade for their work in Liverpool winning the league.
Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak were acclaimed for eye-catching seasons at Bournemouth and Newcastle United, respectively. These are good players with their hearts and minds scrambled at the moment. Both were subbed early. Kerkez looks scared, unsure of his role, perhaps daunted by the step up in stadium, pressure and scrutiny. He’s a good player. Slot has to bed him in, settle him psychologically.
Isak’s issues are as much tactical. Slot is a good coach and Werner could be forgiven for thinking that he should be getting more out of a £125 million ($163 million) striker than 14 touches and no goal threat against Forest. It's naïve of Slot to start a striker of Isak’s specific strengths and not set Liverpool up to maximise those strengths.
Slot talks of Isak needing to regain sharpness after a preseason ruined by the transfer saga. But the Swede has played 497 minutes for Liverpool, and 226 for his country, enough to build up some pace and finishing finesse.
What Isak needs with Liverpool is the type of service he enjoyed at Newcastle United, crosses which he can run on to and put away. Isak is a predator who relies on his stealth to time his runs, eluding markers to reach the ball.
At Newcastle, Jacob Murphy provided that supply (12 assists in 35 Premier League games last season). At Liverpool, Salah and Cody Gakpo tend not to cross. They cut in from the flanks and link or let fly. Salah is Footballer of the Year, and difficult to drop, while Gakpo actually started the season well but neither brings the best out of Isak.
Liverpool’s changing cast of full-backs have not ventured forward and delivered the sort of ball Isak thrives on. Bradley has delivered only 12 crosses in 532 Premier League minutes, and many of those were when Isak was on the bench or out with an adductor problem.
Against opponents who play low blocks, Isak craves that early long raking pass into space if the defence is pushed up. Who can provide that now that Trent Alexander-Arnold, king of the 60-yard pass, has left for Real Madrid?
Prioritise the Champions League
Slot has to tackle this. If that means omitting Salah, then so be it. If Salah is to continue, and alternatives are not obvious with Jeremie Frimpong injured, then he has to be encouraged to get crosses in and early.
The decision will briefly be made for Slot when Salah heads off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt next month. The other option that Slot has to consider is dropping Isak and starting Ekitike, a more rounded striker.
Liverpool are 11th, 11 points behind leaders Arsenal, and the defence of their title is realistically over. It’s progress in the Champions League that will make Slot’s job more secure. Currently eighth in the league phase with nine points after four games, Liverpool have to remain in the top eight to avoid a playoff and ensure seeding and a less challenging round of 16 draw.
Wednesday’s home game with PSV Eindhoven is of vital importance. It’s hard to see Liverpool taking many—if any—points from trips to Inter Milan and Marseille. The French are not in great form but Stade Vélodrome is not a venue for those with brittle belief.
Liverpool will expect to finish the league phase with a home victory over Qarabag. Will 15 points be enough? The cut for seeding was 16 points last season. Liverpool’s season could be defined on Wednesday.
Slot has to win. For all the deep admiration and respect for his humanity, Slot will ultimately be judged on results.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why PSV Eindhoven Is a Must-Win Game for Arne Slot.
