New manager achieved much at Bournemouth with style reminiscent of Jürgen Klopp’s counterpress

There comes a point in most discussions when all the detail and complications fall away and the issue can be crystalised into a single straightforward question. For Liverpool that became: do they have more chance of challenging for the league title next season under Arne Slot or Andoni Iraola? Put like that, the answer was clear and so Slot was replaced.

That answer may seem counterintuitive. Slot won the Premier League last year and Iraola has never so much as managed a club in Europe. There will be those who see the decision, and the widespread consensus that it was the right thing to do, as evidence of football’s impatience. Perhaps it is. Perhaps Slot next season at Anfield, in less testing circumstances, could have regained the confidence of the dressing room and reinvigorated the side. But in management that is very rare.

We look at the faultlines within Anfield and what is needed in the aftermath of the head coach’s sacking

Maybe Mohamed Salah’s style of communication was not the slickest but he was correct that Liverpool need to redefine the style of football they play. Everything on the pitch last season under Arne Slot felt very placid as Liverpool failed to dominate opponents and were often found overrun. The new head coach will want to demonstrate his plans and implement an attacking style to best use what is available to him. Anfield does not want to witness back-foot football, fans want to see a swagger to those in red. Supporters and Slot suffered from a disconnect in the final months. The Dutchman was hindered by not possessing the vivacious personality of Jürgen Klopp nor the results in the end, and the aforementioned tedious style. The successor will want to put fans at the forefront and build a strong bond between stands and dugout, built on a platform of attractive play.

Coach did not deserve the vitriol, FSG’s recruitment was flawed, but Anfield boos meant executives needed to act

Mohamed Salah’s parting shot was to demand the return of heavy-metal football at Liverpool and, in their reasoning for sacking Arne Slot, the club’s hierarchy have concurred. It is a brutal, but understandable decision to remove Slot on the basis that Liverpool’s style must evolve, though responsibility for this season’s regression does not rest with the coach alone.

Liverpool have never sacked a title-winning manager on their title-winning watch before now. Sir Kenny Dalglish’s dismissal came in his second, League Cup-winning spell in charge. That underlines the scale of the decision to sack a head coach who won the club’s record-equalling 20th league title 13 months ago and who handled the unprecedented trauma of Diogo Jota’s death with dignity and professionalism last summer.

The title-winning glow soon faded for the champions’ manager after tragedy in Spain presaged a dramatic decline on the pitch

The Liverpool forward was returning from his native Portugal to England via car then ferry, on medical advice after having a minor lung operation, and was killed in an accident along with his brother, André Silva, en route to the Spanish port of Santander, on 3 July 2025. Jota’s death, 11 days after teammates attended his wedding to the mother of their three children, deeply affected everyone at the club. The celebrations at the end of May of the club’s title win on the streets of Liverpool had previously been cut short by a man driving a car into the crowds, injuring 134 people, some seriously. What should have been a summer of celebration was overshadowed by tragedies, and Arne Slot had to prepare for the new season against a highly emotional background.

• Dutchman departs after disappointing title defence

• Live reaction: Slot leaves Anfield after two years

Liverpool have sacked Arne Slot after a troubled Premier League title defence and are likely to turn to Andoni Iraola to replace him. Slot has been dismissed with immediate effect and, Liverpool say, with great reluctance after a review into a season that was overshadowed by the death of Diogo Jota and featured 19 defeats in all competitions.

With Champions League qualification secured on the final day, and the Liverpool hierarchy claiming for several months that they backed the Dutch coach, the 47-year-old had expected to remain at the helm.

Forward was dropped after a previous attempt to undermine coach, but doing so now could spark mutiny

We can safely say how Arne Slot would like to respond to Mohamed Salah’s latest attempt to undermine him. The Champions League trip to Inter in December, when Salah was left at home as punishment for his incendiary interview at Leeds three days earlier, provides as clear an indication as any. But should a repeat offence result in a repeat sanction on Sunday? Liverpool and their besieged head coach could do without inflaming a potential mutiny at Anfield.

Salah decided to draw up battle lines before his departure, with Saturday’s social media post criticising Liverpool’s direction under Slot. His concerns are widely shared by the Liverpool fanbase and the Liverpool squad, it seems, given the support it received from Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Andy Robertson and several members of last summer’s underwhelming recruitment drive. Arrive at great expense, fail to deliver and fuel the sense that a toxic civil war is erupting behind the scenes: thanks for your efforts lads. It is impossible to say what prompted each individual like on Instagram but that is the impression the collective has given.

Salah’s claims about a winning culture spark reaction as City manager rows back on his perfect-finish stance

• ‘We’ve beaten some very, very good teams’

• Arne Slot complains Sesko goal was handball

Michael Carrick stated that leading his team “feels pretty natural” after the interim manager guided Manchester United to a 3-2 win against Liverpool that sealed Champions League qualification.

Victory over Arne Slot’s visitors to Old Trafford took Carrick’s tally to 32 points from his 14 games in charge since replacing Ruben Amorim in January. This has made him the favourite to be offered the full-time position and the 44-year-old was reminded of his record with regard to him becoming the No 1.

• Liverpool win derby in 100th minute after difficult run

• ‘Five games in 15 days with mainly the same players’

Arne Slot claimed Liverpool provided the perfect answer to questions over their mentality and character as Virgil van Dijk’s 100th-minute header clinched victory in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Liverpool opened up a seven-point gap to sixth-placed Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification with their captain’s dramatic intervention against Everton, who were left to rue another late blow by their local rivals. David Moyes described the outcome as “cruel” and claimed Everton should have had a penalty for a push by Curtis Jones on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Return of Alexander Isak is all well and good, but it will not redeem a season of sustained underperformance

“The failure is big,” said Ryan Gravenberch as he digested the Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain that ensured Liverpool’s season will finish trophyless. It was a more appropriate description of the team’s plight than Arne Slot’s insistence the future looks bright and a reality the head coach cannot avoid whether Champions League qualification for next season is secured or not. As it must be.

Failure is unthinkable for a club whose business model depends on its lucrative revenue streams and a team that 12 months ago was about to win the Premier League title at a canter and then remodelled to the tune of almost £450m. With the top five all qualifying, Chelsea fading from the conversation under Liam Rosenior and a five-point advantage over Brentford and Everton with six games to play, it would be a humiliating final blow for Liverpool to miss out. Slot’s defence for getting a third season to manage Liverpool’s transition would be holed.

• Liverpool out of Champions League after loss to PSG

• Ekitiké carried off with suspected achilles injury

Arne Slot once again lamented Liver­pool’s wastefulness in front of goal after they were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain and suffered the added blow of losing Hugo Ekitiké to a potentially serious injury.

Liverpool produced a vastly improved second-leg display against the European champions but exited at the quarter-final stage after a 4-0 aggregate defeat. Ousmane Dembélé scored twice late on to extinguish Anfield’s hope of another European comeback.

• Slot: ‘There is a belief we can do special things’

• Luis Enrique tells his players to beware ‘pitfalls’

Arne Slot has said Liverpool do not face an impossible task against Paris Saint-Germain but must produce the perfect performance to overcome the European champions in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool require another stirring Anfield comeback in Tuesday’s second leg to salvage their hopes of silverware having lost 2-0 at Parc des Princes last week. PSG were vastly superior in the first leg and should have won more comfortably, although their head coach, Luis Enrique, described such talk as “a trap” and claimed there will be “pitfalls” for his team at Anfield.

• Last year’s title ‘postponed’ overhaul says manager

• Slot insists he ‘can feel that support’ from fanbase

Arne Slot has said last season’s title triumph “postponed” the end of an era at Liverpool but that the club were under no illusions a rebuild was required when appointing him as Jürgen Klopp’s successor.

Two more links to the Klopp era will be removed this summer when Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah leave on free transfers. Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Joe Gomez, the remaining players from the squad that delivered Premier League and Champions League success to Anfield under Klopp, will then enter the final years of their contracts.

• Slot admits team ‘were in survival mode’ during first leg

• ‘Football has shown many times everything is possible’

Arne Slot admitted Liverpool were in survival mode against Paris Saint-Germain and will need the backing of Anfield to raise their level against the European champions in next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg.

Liverpool were fortunate to escape with a 2-0 defeat at Parc des Princes where Ousmane Dembélé, who missed a crucial chance for Barcelona in their 2019 semi-final against Jürgen Klopp’s eventual champions, squandered several opportunities for Luis Enrique’s star-studded side.

• Wirtz denies Liverpool ‘gave up’ in Manchester City loss

• Isak could return off bench after four months out injured

Arne Slot has warned Liverpool will suffer another emphatic defeat should they switch off against Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday evening but believes his toiling team can save their season by going “toe-to-toe” with the European champions.

The pressure on Liverpool and their head coach has intensified following Saturday’s 4-0 capitulation against Manchester City in the quarter-final of the FA Cup. Florian Wirtz disagreed with the captain Virgil van Dijk’s damning assessment that Liverpool “gave up” at the Etihad Stadium, but both the £116m playmaker and Slot admitted there can be no repeat of that performance at Parc des Princes.

• Arne Slot under pressure before Champions League tie

• Van Dijk questions togetherness after 15th loss of season

Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool “gave up” during their FA Cup defeat at Manchester City and has apologised to fans for the woeful performance that heightens the pressure on Arne Slot.

A dejected Liverpool captain was unsparing in his assessment of the heaviest defeat of Slot’s reign and claimed it will be difficult for the team to recover for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain.

• ‘Mentality wasn’t there’ in 4-0 loss to Manchester City

• Slot adds ‘the amount of goals we score is far too low’

Arne Slot slammed Liverpool’s “missing fighting spirit” after the 4-0 humiliation by Manchester City that propelled Pep Guardiola’s team into the FA Cup semi-finals.

The manner of the 4-0 reverse will heighten scrutiny of the head coach’s future, with Liverpool next at Paris Saint-Germain for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg. A similar defeat in the tie may prove terminal for Slot.

Starting at Manchester City in the FA Cup, Arne Slot must show doubters his plan for a team in transition can succeed

There were more important reasons for Jürgen Klopp’s return to Liverpool last Saturday, but it was apposite his presence reminded Anfield of the unshakable bond and belief they once shared, the joy his football brought. Those pillars of Klopp’s reign are weakening under Arne Slot and April may determine whether they are left standing at all.

Two cup quarter-finals in succession should signal a season on the right track for Liverpool; showpiece occasions such as Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday whetting the appetite for what May could have in store.

• Slot: ‘Hopefully he can make his legacy more special’

• Liverpool’s record signing Isak ‘in a really good place’

The Liverpool head coach, Arne Slot, believes Mohamed Salah will “leave the club a legend” after announcing his departure at the end of the season. The Egypt international took to social media last week to reveal he had come to an agreement with the club to end the contract he only extended last summer a year early.

It has been a difficult campaign for the 33-year-old, the low point of which came in December when he said Slot had “thrown him under the bus” by benching him when results took a slide.

• Manager defends club’s spending record in dig at critics

• ‘We need to make sure we qualify for Champions League’

Arne Slot has defended Liverpool’s spending record but admitted the pressure was now on to qualify for the Champions League.

Their chances of making the top five – likely enough to qualify – took a significant hit after they lost 2-1 at Brighton in what has been a disastrous season in the context of a £450m outlay on players in the summer shortly after they had lifted the Premier League trophy.