Alan Shearer and Micah Richards agree on whether Slot should remain at Liverpool for next season

The ex-Newcastle striker replied: “I think so. What he did last season in winning the league, manager of the season – I guess with the issues and the problems they’ve had at Liverpool this year, then yeah I do. If it was my choice, then I would have him as manager.”

Richards agreed, saying: “I would still have him. They’re in the Champions League positions, [won the] Premier League last season.

“I think where the scrutiny comes is that the signings haven’t worked. Isak’s been injured. Wirtz has not been at the level that we all expected. Frimpong – is he a right winger or a right-back? Kerkez has been a shadow of the player he was at Bournemouth.

“Liverpool, all in all, are too slow. They’re too passive. They’re too easy to play against. What you normally associate Liverpool with is being aggressive and hard to beat, especially under [Jurgen] Klopp, and they’re none of those things. I’d like to see the manager get a chance to change that.”

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Liverpool have gone backwards under Slot

Although the Reds are still likely to qualify for the Champions League despite yesterday’s result, the debate over Slot’s future will continue going into the summer, with his team falling way short of pre-season expectations.

Daniel Sturridge made the damning comment after the loss to Man United that Liverpool still don’t have a discernible ‘identity’ after two years under their current head coach, in contrast to how they forged a clear style of play under Klopp within a few months of his appointment in 2015.

The paradox is that, when we last visited Old Trafford in September 2024, it was only three games into Slot’s tenure, and yet LFC were so much more cohesive, fluid and – crucially – determined than they were on Sunday.

The case will be made that the 47-year-old was benefitting from what Klopp had bequeathed to him, although there were still some nuanced tweaks which hinted at what was to come last season. Yesterday, even allowing for several high-profile injury absences, the Reds were unacceptably submissive in the first half in particular.

We don’t want Liverpool to become a ‘revolving door’ club who jettison managers/head coaches with frivolity, but even three wins to finish out this campaign would do little to quell the scrutiny surrounding the Dutchman, and he surely realises it.