Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes he will still be in charge next season.
Slot is facing increasing pressure, and his popularity among Liverpool fans is dwindling because of his team’s failure to mount a worthy defence of their Premier League title.
Xabi Alonso’s availability this summer – and Chelsea’s interest in the Liverpool legend for their head coach vacancy – has intensified the debate around Slot’s future.
Asked about the speculation around his future and if he could confirm he was staying, Slot said: “I don’t think I am deciding that myself alone.
“I have every reason to believe that I am the Liverpool manager next season.
“First of all, I am contracted to this club, and second of all from all the talks we are having.”
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Asked if he had been involved in planning for next season, Slot said: “Plans have been made and talks have been ongoing between the club and new players, and I am involved in that, if that is what you want to know.”
Liverpool, currently fourth in the Premier League table, are in a strong position to qualify for the Champions League next season with a four-point cushion to sixth with two games to play.
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Highlights from the Premier League clash between Liverpool and Chelsea.
Yet there is a sense of dissatisfaction with the change of style Slot has overseen, and last Saturday’s underwhelming draw against Chelsea at Anfield was just the latest in a season of disappointing performances.
Asked about the criticism he has faced, Slot said: “If a manager or a club doesn’t have their best season, there is always debate about that.
“It is not only at Liverpool. It is all around the world. That is the new reality in football. It is not up to me to judge the people that judge me. They have every right to have their opinion.
“In this modern time, everyone can share their opinion. This happened 10-15 years ago, but then you did it in the pub and not everyone heard it.
“Now it is also done in a pub. From what I am reading, they must have drunk a little bit [laughs]. That is a joke! But now it is much more out in the open.”
Carra suggests Liverpool fans want Alonso over Slot
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Jamie Carragher reacts to Xabi Alonso to Chelsea links, saying that if Liverpool were interested in a new manager he would choose to join them.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher believes Xabi Alonso would choose Liverpool over Chelsea if he knew Slot was leaving.
Alonso, who spent five years at Anfield in his playing days, is currently the outstanding candidate to take over at Chelsea, who are searching for a new head coach for next season.
Carragher believes Liverpool supporters want Alonso to be in the dugout at Anfield next season and says Slot has lost more than half of the fanbase.
But the Sky Sports pundit fears Alonso could damage his chances of a Liverpool return by taking the Chelsea job.
“I always felt Xabi would manage Liverpool at some stage. When you manage one of Liverpool’s rivals, which Chelsea are, it makes it a little bit more difficult.
“I don’t see how you go from Chelsea to Liverpool, maybe a little bit down the road. But he has to do what’s best for him right now.
“There will be Liverpool supporters looking at the situation and saying he’s the one they want. It’s not a 50-50 split on Arne Slot any more.
“People outside the club may look at that and not understand when he won the league last season and looks like he’s going to get Champions League this season. But the drop-off has been so stark, and hasn’t improved all season.
“My worry with Liverpool and Arne Slot is whether he’s going to be a bit like Erik ten Hag, have a great first season, a really poor second and then keep their job based on that first season.
“Then you get to October or November and it’s continued poorly, and you have to change the manager. That’s a fear with Liverpool supporters, but it looks from what we’re hearing that Arne Slot will be given another opportunity next season.
“But there will be a feeling from a lot of Liverpool fans that Alonso is there, and if they wanted him he would come.
“But it seems the club have made the decision on Slot, and it says a lot that Alonso is having talks with Chelsea because I think if he had an inkling that there might be a managerial change at Liverpool, I think he’d go there.”
‘Slot emphatic on future amid Alonso links’
Sky Sports News’ Vinny O’Connor at Slot’s press conference:
“Generally not one to talk about players’ futures, Arne Slot delivered an emphatic response when asked about his own.
“In many ways, it was the expected answer given all the noises that have been coming out of the club over the last few weeks. And yet, in light of the performance and result against Chelsea, the spectre of Xabi Alonso being out of work hasn’t gone away.
“Slot, however, despite his own disappointment at Liverpool’s shortcomings this season, appears comfortable in his position. And by that I mean whilst he accepts the scrutiny that’s come his way, his involvement in planning for next season, especially on the recruitment side, backs up his belief that he will get the opportunity to put things right.”
