Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has moved to address growing speculation over his future at Anfield, stating that he retains the full confidence of the club’s ownership, sporting directors, and fanbase during one of the most difficult stretches of his managerial tenure on Merseyside.
Slot, who took charge in June 2024 following Jürgen Klopp’s exit after nine years at the club, guided Liverpool to the Premier League title in his debut season — a remarkable achievement in his first campaign in English football. However, the mood has shifted considerably heading into the business end of 2025-26, with the club now embroiled in a battle to secure European qualification. Only seven points separate fifth-placed Liverpool from Bournemouth in 13th place on the Premier League table.
The pressure has been compounded by two damaging cup exits. Liverpool suffered a 4-0 quarter-final defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup before losing the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain, leaving them with a significant deficit to overturn in the second leg.
Despite those results, Slot — whose contract at Anfield runs until the end of the 2026-27 season — struck a composed tone when addressing his situation. “I’m repeating myself a lot, but I feel a lot of support. Not only from the owners but from Richard [Hughes] and Michael [Edwards],” Slot was quoted as saying. “As weird as it might sound, I also feel the support from the fans.”
The Dutchman pointed specifically to the reaction of travelling supporters in the wake of the Manchester City defeat as evidence of the goodwill that remains between the squad and the Liverpool faithful. “In Paris, when the players went out for the warm-up and after the 4-0 loss [against Manchester City], the fans immediately started singing ‘we love Liverpool’. I think it’s fair to say we were outplayed for 90 minutes, and they were still singing and clapping for us.”
“The club knows the period of time we’re in and in the meantime, I feel complete support,” he added.
Reports suggest Liverpool held an emergency internal meeting in the wake of the recent poor results, though the club has not publicly confirmed the nature of those discussions. Slot also addressed the performance against PSG directly, acknowledging the gulf in levels while framing the experience as instructive rather than terminal.
“We faced the champions of Europe and we experienced that we were not on the level we should have been,” he said. “The good thing is we have four or five days to show we can be much more competitive. It also tells us we want to keep improving and playing at that level next season.”
Slot described the upcoming fixtures as a “defining” period for his squad, with a home Premier League match against Fulham on Saturday serving as the immediate opportunity to arrest the slide. Liverpool must also overturn the two-goal deficit against PSG in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final if they are to advance to the semi-finals of Europe’s premier club competition.
The coming weeks will be critical in determining whether Slot can stabilise Liverpool’s season and preserve their prospects of both European football next term and a deep run in the Champions League.
