A couple of years ago, Arne Slot could savour the sound of Anfield in May. It was Jurgen Klopp, chorusing his successor’s name in a gesture of generosity. Two years on, the noise was less welcome, if unsurprising to the only other title-winning Liverpool manager of the last three decades. There were boos twice: first and loudest when Slot substituted Rio Ngumoha, then at the final whistle as his side had laboured to a 1-1 draw that ended Chelsea’s six-game losing streak.
Individual incidents form part of a wider pattern, and the broader picture of discontent, the readiness of the Liverpool faithful to make their unhappiness audible, should concern Slot more. Ngumoha had cramp, the Dutchman reported, and the fans were not to know that. But his removal should have been no surprise, given that the 17-year-old is yet to complete a game in his senior career, and a crowd-pleaser has become a lightning rod. Slot expected the boos because they tend to come with Ngumoha’s withdrawal.
What has been rather overlooked is that his replacement was an afterthought, belatedly applauded. That is damning of Alexander Isak, the £125m man, that the supporters would rather have seen more of an untried teenager than the British record buy.
The soundtrack at full-time was quieter but notable. Both reaction and result were a replay. A hideously out-of-form Chelsea came from behind to get just Calum McFarlane’s second point as a Premier League manager. Seven weeks earlier, Tottenham’s lone point under Igor Tudor came at Anfield. Liverpool were booed off then, too.
Neither game was lost; but there is the risk that a critical mass of the Liverpool support have been. In the short term, Slot knows he cannot win them back. He nevertheless has confidence he will in time. “Yeah, I do,” he said. “Not this season, by the way. This season they will have their opinion and it will not change but if we can have the summer that we are planning to have, I am 100 per cent convinced we will be a different team next season than we are now. Different in terms of results, different in how things look.”
That does mean there will be a minimum of three months before he can change minds. Time can be a healer, or it can mean views become entrenched.
Slot may hope that fans’ frustration is diminished by a summer off; that a new season brings a new start with new players. Certainly a fully-fit team, with a side given balance by fine recruitment, would help him; maybe that would provide a solution to many of this season’s other failings, from a lack of urgency or a clinical streak to a habit of conceding at set-pieces, though he does not fully explain why he is so sure next season will be better.
The sense, though, is that some made up their minds about Slot during Liverpool’s autumn run of nine defeats in 12 games. Anfield has expressed its discontent more of late; the opposition that was initially apparent online – and is certainly more vituperative there – has started to be reflected in the stadium.
There is the issue, too, of whether he can alter the trajectory of his reign. The up has been followed by the down. Many another has discovered problems do not disappear in a summer. There are plenty of precedents of managers who have limped to the end of one season, discovered they do not have a clean slate in the next and departed in October or November.
For now, Slot has retained the faith of the Liverpool powerbrokers, if not the supporters. He rarely looks beleaguered or beaten. Nor does he ignore the issues. But he is aware he can be blamed for much, regardless of his culpability. “The last time I checked, the Strait of Hormuz being closed is not my fault, is it?” he asked last week.
Not everything is, but the imminent end of a troubled campaign could offer a little respite. Liverpool have played 55 games. They only have two remaining, one at Anfield. That that will be a send-off to, and a celebration of, Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson. When Brentford visit on 24 May, Slot should be overshadowed by two of Liverpool’s modern greats. There will presumably be a lap of appreciation; maybe in the context of this season, it will be more of a lap of frustration. Slot probably knows that, if some get their way, it will be his last outing at Anfield. Perhaps there is a silent majority who feel his exploits in his debut year mean he merits the chance to carry on. It feels as if his employers do.
But his task involves doing something that became a mission statement for Klopp. At his unveiling at Anfield, he said he had to turn doubters into believers. Now Slot needs to find a way of persuading his doubters and restoring belief.
