Arne Slot is reminding Liverpool fans of Brendan Rodgers' image in 2015. At the end of that season, Liverpool was struggling to reach the finish line, completely opposite to their good form in the previous season.
With only 3 matches left to close the 2014-2015 season, Liverpool drew 1-1 with Chelsea before everything collapsed. After that, they lost to Crystal Palace 1-3 at home, followed by a disastrous 1-6 defeat to Stoke City. That year Liverpool finished in 6th place and only got a ticket to play in the Europa League.
11 years ago, the owners of Fenway Sports Group (FSG) did not fire Rodgers even though in the 3 years he led Liverpool, the team did not have any major titles. The best achievement was only approaching the Premier League title in 2014. The belief in the Scottish coach showed FSG's mistake. Just 3 months after the new season started, Rodgers was sacked. Liverpool at that time only had 12 points after 8 opening matches and ranked 10th in the Premier League.
Currently, Arne Slot's situation is similar to Brendan Rodgers 11 years ago. American owners still show signs of supporting the Dutch coach. Somewhere there is still sympathy for the personnel situation when Liverpool suddenly lost Diogo Jota when this striker passed away. Other stars such as Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz or Hugo Ekitike have many different problems so they cannot meet expectations.
However, the atmosphere at Anfield last Saturday was like a warning to the club's leadership. That was when the patience of fans reached its limit. The last time a coach was booed and whistled by fans like that right at Anfield home ground was Roy Hodgson in 2010.
When Rio Ngumoha was substituted in the middle of the second half, the boos were heard more clearly. Arne Slot then explained that the 17-year-old star had cramps and needed rest, but many fans did not believe so. They considered it a lack of Arne Slot's ability to operate the squad.
After the match, when asked if he was confident in regaining the fans' trust, Arne Slot answered quite half-heartedly, causing many hotheads of The Kop fans to have the opportunity to express even more anger.
I believe I can do it but certainly not this season. Currently, fans are maintaining that prejudice and they will not change. However, if Liverpool completes all plans next summer, I believe the team will have many differences in the next season.
That is Arne Slot's point of view, but if he starts as badly as Brendan Rodgers 11 years ago, patience is highly likely to be exceeded. Liverpool at this time is not without candidates. The person emerging for the possibility of replacing Arne Slot is Xabi Alonso. Although Alonso cannot bring confidence in building an empire like Jurgen Klopp, at least at this time, the Spanish coach is being warmly welcomed by Liverpool fans.
Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool also encountered countless failures and had seasons with terrible performance declines. However, when the team's leader was Klopp, fans always believed that the day of return would come quickly and exactly like that. As for Arne Slot, he did not create enough confidence for fans about the day Liverpool would be able to recreate the class of previous years.
The reason is that Chelsea traveled to Anfield in the context of losing all 6 previous matches in the Premier League and only scoring 1 goal. Liverpool scored first but for some reason slowed down and lost the game to the opponent. Home fans vented their anger on Ibrahima Konate for his unstable playing style, using his feet to kick the ball and slowing down the pace of the match. Not urgent, not rhythmic and not intense. Even considering players absent due to injury, the result is still very bad. Liverpool only had 3 shots on target and created a expected goal score of 0.56 against Chelsea.
Cody Gakpo only had 6 touches in the first half and won 1/5 tackles before being substituted. The offside of the Dutch striker interrupted Curtis Jones' celebration after heading the goal. As for Jeremie Frimpong, he still had a bad day like any other day on the right wing. The midfield was also very chaotic when Alexis Mac Allister only won 1/9 tackles. This statistic for Dominik Szoboszlai is 1/7 and Ryan Gravenberch is 5/11.
At this time, Arne Slot probably wants the season to end as soon as possible. There are too many mistakes and a great deal of faith is needed to believe that the Dutch coach can fix them.
