Arne Slot splashed £426m to make champions WORSE

CURTIS JONES summed it up perfectly.

The England midfielder, speaking in the aftermath of the latest Anfield horror show, did not pull his punches.

Jones said: “Right now, we’re in the s*** – and it needs to change.”

And if change is needed, then there is only one man who can bring it – and transform everything with a smile of those brilliant white teeth.

The same man who took a club that was on its knees in 2015 and altered the entire mood of the red half of Merseyside.

Who won the Champions League and reached two more finals. Who proved that Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were not an irresistible, unbeatable force. Who ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for the title.

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And who should really be credited as the architect of last season’s Prem-winning campaign, too.

When Jurgen Klopp – in January 2024 – announced he would depart Liverpool that summer, the sense of shock and despair was huge.

Liverpool fans feared the worst. That everything Klopp had built would be frittered away, with no successor able to fill the void.

Last season, as Arne Slot’s side romped to one of the easiest title victories of recent years, that seemed a false and premature conclusion.

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Not now, on the back of nine defeats in 12 games, shipping seven goals at Anfield in five days and three consecutive three-goal defeats.

Leaving the champions in 12th place, 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and below both Manchester United and Everton.

Slot suggested he was “beyond angry” following the 4-1 Champions League thumping by PSV Eindhoven, the latest debilitating blow to Anfield’s damaged pride.

But it is hard to take a sensible view of what has transpired over the past few months and not point the finger directly at the Dutchman.

Last season, the title was won with Klopp’s team. With the exception of Federico Chiesa – six appearances, five off the bench – every single player who started a Prem game had signed for the club under the Klopp reign.

Slot’s tweak was to make Ryan Gravenberch his central holder. Otherwise, nothing changed.

Klopp’s DNA ran through every aspect of the team. Slot’s biggest decision was, effectively, to do next to nothing, to let it ride.

There were, of course, some warning signs as the season wore on. Liverpool won only four of their last 11 matches, including none of them after the title was confirmed.

£426million made Liverpool WORSE

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid was inevitable, Andy Robertson appeared to have lost some of his spark and the team was hugely dependent on Mohamed Salah’s record-busting season.

The best teams build from a position of strength to get better. But Slot has built from a position of strength, splashing out a staggering £426MILLION up front….to get WORSE. Far worse.

While Liverpool have a technical department and sporting directors it is the manager who has the final say – if he doesn’t want a player, they will not arrive.

Yet it is hard to argue a case that ANY of the players who came this summer have actually performed well, let alone improved things.

Full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have struggled under the spotlight.

Hugo Etitike’s initial impact has waned – it’s just one goal in 10 for the Frenchman.

Malaise has spread

Florian Wirtz’s £100m fee is an anvil being carried on his back. As for the supposed cherry on the top, Alexander Isak, the Swede’s self-inflicted lack of fitness has been compounded by a total loss of confidence.

The malaise has spread throughout the team. Virgil van Dijk is making schoolboy errors, Alexis MacAllister has become virtually invisible and Salah is a pale shadow of the player who has graced Anfield since 2017.

Yes, hanging over everybody, still, is the player who is no longer there, the peg left empty in the changing room.

Diogo Jota’s tragic death was always going to have a long-term impact but the true scale was demonstrated by Robertson as he savoured Scotland’s epic win over Denmark to qualify for the World Cup.

In a moment of personal and national ecstasy, Robertson reflected: “I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head. We spoke so much about going to the World Cup.”

Klopp, too, would have felt that loss and the grieving. It would have been a factor, whoever was in charge.

Klopp hinted at return

Klopp has already had that effect on the club once and his return, despite that old “never go back” warning, would instantly alter the mood music.

Klopp, like former Reds skipper Steven Gerrard – a potential caretaker option like Frank Lampard was at Chelsea – is not actually in a managerial role.

Instead he is in the far less stressful role as Red Bull’s “Head of Global Soccer”.

Only last month, while expressing his “love” for his current role, Klopp admitted: “I said I will never coach a team in England again. That means if it’s Liverpool, theoretically it’s possible.”

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It felt like a nudge to see if the door might be open. And now this is starting to feel like a “break the glass” emergency.

If the alarm is triggered, nobody ticks every Liverpool box better than Klopp.