Four reasons Arne Slot’s Liverpool future is now in doubt

It cannot have been lost on Liverpool supporters that their last Anfield meeting with Tottenham Hotspur contrasted so sharply with the latest on Sunday.

Tottenham were also the visitors on 27 April of last year when, in glorious sunshine, the Reds clinched the Premier League title with a 5-1 win that seemed to usher in a new era of glory despite the loss of Jurgen Klopp.

Yet, just shy of 11 months later – and fittingly in the wind and hail – the same fans were watching their team held to a 1-1 draw by a relegation-threatened Spurs missing 13 first-team stars.

So, how have things under Arne Slot gone so badly wrong so quickly? Here are the key reasons for the champions’ slump.

Inability to deal with directness

The simplicity of Tottenham’s equaliser would have been shocking were it not such a familiar sight this season.

A hopeful lump forward from the goalkeeper not dealt with, a second ball being claimed by the opposition, and a simple finishing resulting from there – this description fits far too many of the goals Liverpool have conceded since August.

IT'S LEVEL!

Richarlison scores in the 90th minute pic.twitter.com/XETHk3ITFI

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 15, 2026

More than most, they have seemed to be caught out by the Premier League-wide pivot toward physicality and directness that has defined the campaign, but in truth these issues were flagged during poor showings against Newcastle and Everton late last season.

Given how long this problem has existed, it is damning of Slot that, despite possessing the most aerially dominant centre-back in the division in Virgil van Dijk, he has still not found a solution to that particular problem.

Conceding late goals

Of course, it wasn’t just the manner of Richarlison’s strike that felt routine, but also the timing.

This was the eighth goal Liverpool have conceded in the 90th minute or later this season in the Premier League, and each of them has been result-altering.

Had they held on in those games, Slot’s men would be 11 points better off, just one behind second-placed Manchester City.

Instead, they are well adrift and locked in a battle for Champions League qualification, rather than the title.

Slot often suggests that poor luck is a factor but, if you consistently leave games in the balance, sometimes it will come back to bite you.

Question marks over training regime

The Reds’ fitness has also been called into question following their dramatic decline (Photo: Getty)

These late collapses in games have led many to question whether Liverpool are fit enough for the rigours of a Premier League campaign, and that point of view is not without merit.

Tottenham ran 9km further than their hosts last weekend, and that is part of a wider pattern given the Reds have been outrun in the vast majority of their league games so far this season.

Slot’s penchant for giving players days off worked well last season as a lower rate of muscle injury incidence allowed for a consistency of selection that was foundational to winning the title.

But it has seemed like the further away from Klopp’s famously gruelling conditioning they have got, the less fit and sharp the squad has become due to this lack of time on the training pitch.

That has not only resulted in the players’ inability to match the opposition’s workrate, but also an absence of sharpness in their use of the ball.

Misuse of the squad

Even if Liverpool opt for a change of manager this summer, there is no doubt that their half-finished squad will still require serious surgery.

But there remains a feeling that, while he hasn’t quite been given the tools to win the title this term, Slot has misused what he has at his disposal.

For example, the Dutchman has rightly been criticised for his loyalty to the woefully out-of-form Alexis Mac Allister, regular use of Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, and failure to find Florian Wirtz’s best role – and these are just a selection of the many issues.

What’s more, in each of those cases, he has had an alternative to turn to but has completely ignored it in favour of a plan that simply isn’t working.

That stubbornness has cost Liverpool, resulting in little improvement being seen over the course of a wretched campaign.

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