Danny Murphy: Slot must achieve what no past Liverpool manager has done in order to keep his job
Danny Murphy has claimed that Arne Slot could find it difficult to win back those within the Liverpool fan base who’ve now turned against him during a massively underachieving season.
From beginning the campaign as Premier League champions and many people’s favourites to retain the title, the Reds now find themselves fifth and scrambling to merely qualify for the Champions League, having lost 10 top-flight matches in the past six months.
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It’s led to many pundits questioning whether the Dutchman will lose his job in the next couple of months, barring a major uplift in the post-Easter run-in, and our former midfielder believes the 47-year-old might have to do something that none of his predecessors at Anfield managed.
Murphy: Slot could find it hard to win back the doubters
Speaking about Slot’s position at Liverpool on talkSPORT, Murphy said: “For the first time in a long, long time, the fan base has turned.
“I was saying this the other day: as a Liverpool supporter growing up and a player there, I don’t remember – I can’t think of a time where a manager has lost the fan base and turned it around.
“I just don’t remember it happening because the Liverpool fans are good at it [supporting their manager]. They don’t tend to turn, but when they do, I’ve never seen anyone get it back, so it feels a little like it’s inevitable what’s coming now.”
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Can Slot change the narrative in the next two months?
If Slot were to guide the Reds to Champions League glory in Budapest in two months’ time, the travails of the domestic season would be largely forgotten, just as they were for Rafael Benitez when LFC finished fifth in 2004/25 but became champions of Europe.
However, in a similar fashion to Gerard Houllier and Brendan Rodgers, the Spaniard’s stock had fallen by the time he was dismissed in 2010, and few supporters were complaining when those managerial changes were made.
In the cases of Benitez and Houllier, while their respective reigns didn’t end happily, the trophies they won at Anfield ensured that, in time, they’d be greatly respected for the success that they did bring to the club. The same could yet be said of Slot for delivering the Premier League title last year.
For now, though, the Dutchman has seen a large portion of the fan base turn against him – it’s not just the more knee-jerk corners of social media who are calling for a change, and the audible chorus of boos at the final whistle of several home matches this season is damning.
Liverpool supporters are renowned for sticking by their team in times of adversity, so the unmistakable restlessness of the natives isn’t something to be dismissed lightly.
For the club’s sake, we hope that Slot can instigate a significant revival in the final two months of the season and that we’ll have something tangible to cheer by the end of May. If he can accomplish that, then the narrative surrounding him would change for the better.
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