Arne Slot deserves sympathy

Dismissing Arne Slot only a little over one year following a Premier League championship has generated significant controversy.

1. Top-level football is always unforgiving, but few managers have entered a season under as difficult circumstances as Arne Slot. Just weeks after celebrating the 2024-25 Premier League title, Liverpool was hit by a series of major shocks. A vehicle plowing into a crowd during the victory parade left hundreds injured, casting a dark shadow over the city's celebration. Then came an even more heartbreaking tragedy: Diogo Jota and his younger brother died in a traffic accident in Spain.

Jota's sudden death was not just a professional loss—it was an emotional blow to the entire dressing room. Liverpool players had attended Jota's wedding less than two weeks before having to go to his funeral. In such circumstances, Slot had to act not only as a coach but also as a stabilizer for a deeply wounded collective.

Notably, Liverpool started the season relatively well. They won their first seven matches across all competitions and still looked like champions. This shows that the early difficulties did not immediately cause the team to collapse. However, that lingering emotional wound never truly healed. A season lasting nearly ten months demands immense mental strength, and Slot's Liverpool had to fight under abnormal psychological conditions throughout the entire year.

2. One reason Slot deserves sympathy is that he is not the only one responsible for Liverpool's failure.

In the summer of 2025, Liverpool spent nearly £450 million on transfers—the largest amount in the club's history. In theory, it was a massive investment to strengthen the champions. But in reality, many decisions created an unbalanced squad.

Jeremie Frimpong was brought in for a system that doesn't use wing-backs. Alexander Isak was a £125 million blockbuster signing but missed almost the entire preseason due to complications in leaving Newcastle. Florian Wirtz arrived with huge expectations but couldn't adapt immediately. Meanwhile, Liverpool failed to find an adequate replacement for Luis Diaz and missed out on Marc Guehi.

As a result, Slot had to work with an expensive yet unbalanced squad. Constant injuries only worsened the problem. Isak broke his leg just as he was starting to develop chemistry with Wirtz. Hugo Ekitike tore his Achilles tendon during a decisive phase of the season. The defense was also repeatedly disrupted by various injuries.

A manager must naturally take responsibility for results. But it's difficult to attribute the entire failure to Slot when the very people who planned the transfer strategy contributed to the problems he had to solve. If success belongs to the whole system, failure cannot simply be placed on one individual's shoulders.

3. That doesn't mean Slot is entirely blameless. Liverpool's 2025/26 season truly had many serious professional issues.

The team was poor at defending set pieces and frequently lost leads in the final minutes. The playing style lacked speed and energy, boring many fans. Consecutive defeats to Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, and PSV Eindhoven showed a loss of identity. The decision to drop Mohamed Salah from the starting lineup for several games also pushed Slot into an open conflict with the club's biggest star.

But are those mistakes enough to make Slot the sole cause of the crisis? The answer is probably no. In fact, Liverpool still stood in the Champions League qualification spots and didn't fall into a total collapse like many other big clubs have experienced. Slot also didn't completely lose the dressing room. What cost him his job more than anything was that the fans had lost faith. When boos rang out at Anfield, the management realized they were facing a crisis of emotion, not just results.

In modern football, sometimes a manager is not fired because he is the worst, but because the club needs a change to refresh the atmosphere. Slot may no longer be the right fit for Liverpool at this moment, but that doesn't mean he should bear full responsibility for a failed season. Therefore, he deserves sympathy.