Key Insights: The Slot Collapse
- 📉 The Slump: 19 defeats in all competitions marks Liverpool’s most turbulent campaign in over a decade.
- 🏆 Inherited Success: Evidence suggests the 2025 title was a “Klopp hangover” rather than a Slot revolution.
- 💰 The £450m Question: Massive investment in Isak, Wirtz, and Ekitike has resulted in defensive fragility and “lost” superstars.
- 🏟️ The Anfield Appraisal: Once the “toast of Merseyside,” Slot now faces regular full-time boos and a “curdled” atmosphere. With Xabi Alonso waiting in the wings and FSG reportedly losing faith, the tactical breakdown has officially become a cultural one.
- ⚠️ Historical Warning: Parallels drawn to the post-title failures of Claudio Ranieri and Roberto Di Matteo.
From Heavy Metal to Mersey Masterstroke
One season into his first season at Anfield, Arne Slot was the toast of Merseyside. To take the reins at Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp called time on his trophy-laden nine-year spell was a hugely challenging task, but the Dutchman made it look easy as he took to the Premier League like a duck to water. Playing a seemingly more composed, less frenetic brand of football than the final iteration of Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ game, Slot’s Liverpool dominated throughout the season despite minimal investment in the squad.
Nobody expected Liverpool to challenge for the title under the new regime, but under his guiding hand Mo Salah looked rejuvenated, Virgil Van Dijk played arguably his best season since 2020 and Ryan Gravenberch’s promotion from afterthought to one of Europe’s premier midfielders was seen as a masterstroke. Liverpool didn’t just win the title unexpectedly; they romped to it almost unopposed. Slot, it seemed, was a genius, and suggestions that he was the Paisley to Klopp’s Shankly did not seem so far-fetched.
Yet 12 months later, things could hardly be more different. Slot is under pressure, The Kop is furious, and the historical parallels have lurched from Paisley to Di Matteo. A lot has gone wrong for the once heralded Dutchman. Is it time for him to go?
The £450 Million Meltdown
The 12-Month Collapse at Anfield
Fast-forward to May 2026, and even the most ardent Everton fan wouldn’t have dreamt of what has materialised. After a record-breaking transfer window in which the Reds invested close to £450 million ($612 million) on the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, and a thrilling five-game winning streak to start the season, Slot’s men have fallen apart in spectacular fashion.
Nineteen defeats in all competitions – the most in a single Liverpool campaign since 2014-15. Eliminated from the FA Cup with a humiliating 4-0 hammering by Manchester City. Out of the Carabao Cup with a whimper at home to Crystal Palace. Knocked out of the Champions League by a PSG side in second gear. A defence that looks tired, dishevelled and vulnerable. Salah appearing slow and ineffective. A midfield that is far too easy to play through. And over £300 million ($408 million) worth of attacking talent in Isak, Wirtz and Ekitike looking lost, injured, bereft of confidence.
The cracks have run deeper than results alone. Salah publicly admitted to a breakdown in his relationship with Slot. Van Dijk, so imperious in that title-winning season, admitted the team “gave up” during their FA Cup capitulation at the Etihad.
The atmosphere at Anfield has curdled, with full-time boos becoming a regular feature of home fixtures. Xabi Alonso has been openly mooted as a replacement, and according to multiple reports, FSG have privately accepted they may have to act this summer regardless of where the club finishes.
A Club in Mourning: The Jota Factor
It is worth acknowledging too the devastating off-field backdrop to the season. Diogo Jota, so central to that title win, died in a car accident in Spain in July 2025. The grief that swept through the club can’t be quantified in terms of results, but it would be naive to suggest it left no mark on a squad navigating an already turbulent campaign.
Despite this abject, miserable season for The Reds, barring one last capitulation in a season full of them, Liverpool will qualify for the Champions League. But this now feels like a side show. Foremost amongst the questions swirling around Anfield: was last year’s title win just a giddy hangover from the Klopp era? After all, other than the subtle tweaks to Klopp’s style of play, Slot didn’t have to do much. The squad was already in place, the formation remained the same. All Slot had to do was stand on the sidelines and watch a team built by his predecessor sweep all before them.
Ultimately time will tell with for the Dutchman, and he may yet turn it around given the wealth of talent at his disposal. But it is hard to ignore the signs that Slot may have jumped the shark after getting rich off the work of those before him. He wouldn’t be the first, nor the last manager to achieve greatness off the back of another man’s work, only for the wheels to fall off the wagon when the squad and tactics are shaped in their own image.
The Ghost of Managers Past: Ranieri and Di Matteo
This “Borrowed Glory” phenomenon isn’t new. Slot is merely the latest to follow a path trodden by those who mistook stewardship for mastery:
- Claudio Ranieri: ‘The Tinkerman’ was viewed as the architect of Leicester’s fairytale title in 2016, but in truth it was built on Nigel Pearson’s tactical foundations and Steve Walsh’s recruitment. When Ranieri tried to “evolve” the team into a possession-based side the following year, spending £60 million ($82 million) on players like Slimani and Musa in the process, the identity vanished. He was sacked with Leicester one point above the relegation zone.
- Roberto Di Matteo: Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League in 2012 by reverting to the pragmatic “Old Guard” philosophy established by Mourinho. Once handed the permanent job, he attempted an expansive overhaul with Eden Hazard and Oscar. The result? Chelsea became the first holders to exit in the group stage, and Di Matteo was gone by November.
In both cases, the wheels fell off the moment the manager stopped driving someone else’s car and tried to build their own.
Architect or Auditor? The Final Verdict
For Arne Slot, these are two cautionary tales , and the parallels with his own tenure are impossible to ignore. Early pragmatism resulting in unexpected success. Heavy investment to support a personal vision resulting in defensive fragility, dressing room tension and a dramatic collapse in results. The specific numbers are damning: 19 defeats, four separate exits from cup competitions, and a points tally so far adrift of the title that the club will consider Champions League qualification a relative success.
It is now up to Slot (if he’s still at the club next season) to prove that he is different. That he can adapt and mould Liverpool’s expensive new arrivals into a coherent unit and create genuine success.
In the eyes of this observer, the Dutchman needs to given the chance to prove there was brilliance in his vision. All of the summer signings have been injured at some point during this season, and indeed Wirtz, Ekitike, Isak and Kerkez have only started twice together all season. If Liverpool feel they have the patience to see the vision of Slot and the sporting directors come to fruition, they could well be rewarded.
However, it’s time for Slot to show that the 2025/26 season was not just another case of inherited glory. Failure to do so will relegate him to the long list of managers remembered not for what they built, but for what they briefly borrowed.
