Arne Slot has been urged to change one thing in particular if he keeps his job at Liverpool

“Talk about how you’re going to fix it, not what the problem is.”

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Slot needs to find a way to overcome problems

We accept that the Reds boss has had to deal with some extremely difficult situations over the past year, but there have simply been too many inadequate results and performances this season to be explained away by hollow excuses.

Every team in the Premier League will have days where their luck is out and injuries with which to contend, but the remit of a head coach/manager is to find a way to overcome those obstacles, not to bemoan them as barriers to progress.

Liverpool fans can see the on-field problems for themselves – Slot’s responsibility is to come up with solutions for those challenging situations, and it’d help if he struck a more defiant tone in public rather than lamenting low blocks or injury issues.

Also, it’s one thing for the Dutchman to vow that he’ll put things right; it’s another to actually demonstrate it on matchday. In elite football, results are the only currency of value to owners, not platitudes about a ‘battling performance’ or ‘gallant defeat’.

If (as seems increasingly likely) the 47-year-old remains in charge of the Reds for next season, he needs to instigate more confidence among the fans through the messages he conveys in public and – most of all – wins on the pitch.