A MONTH ago and it would have sounded preposterous.
But lose to Aston Villa at Anfield on Sunday — and boss Arne Slot will be facing real questions about his Liverpool future.
About how he has taken a title-winning side, added £426MILLION-WORTH of talent, and made them weaker.
Interrogation over who Slot feels should be part of his first-choice side and what formation they should deploy.
And why it looks as if the Dutchman is struggling to work out the problems properly, let alone scratch around for the solutions.
Of course, in normal circumstances, the very idea that a manager who wears the crown could be facing a crisis point would be bizarre.
RED FLAG
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Yet when shades of the swift demise of The Tinkerman start to gather substance, especially when Slot appeared to have the dice loaded in his favour in August, the infeasible could suddenly become a significant threat.
In early 2017, with football still reverberating to the most unlikely fairytale of the century, Leicester’s Thai owners decided to shoot Bambi. Claudio Ranieri had made us laugh with his “Dilly-ding, dilly-dong” catchphrase and fans up and down the land were revelling in the Foxes’ triumph.
But it counted for nothing when they won just two out of 15 from the start of November to fall to 17th.
And while Slot is not overseeing a slump of that magnitude, Liverpool are adrift in rough seas.
The champions won their first five Premier League games, thanks to a slew of late goals, with the results masking the performances.
Since that first 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace, though, all of the issues have been evident.
Alexander Isak, 26, not fit when he finally got his £130m dream move from Newcastle, has been a pale imitation of the striker Slot envisaged he was signing, even before his latest injury.
Florian Wirtz, 22, is, self-evidently, floundering, weighed down by his own nine-figure transfer fee and looks to be lacking confidence or belief.
But hauling him off in favour of Joe Gomez, when Liverpool were trailing 3-1 at Brentford and running out of time, was a brutal statement that reeked of panic.
As for Mo Salah, the inspiration of last season’s triumph and King of the Kop, the drop-off has been spectacular.
Slot was rightly praised for the seamless transition from the Jurgen Klopp era, the title won at a canter.
That was with, effectively, Klopp’s team, with the minor adjustment of Ryan Gravenberch becoming the central midfield cog.
Arguably the German’s second title win, 12 months after he left the club. Nobody was really fussed that they did not win any of their final four games after confirming the crown by thrashing hapless Tottenham 5-1.
The summer recruitment drive then raised expectations further.
With the departures of Luis Diaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Darwin Nunez, the phasing out of Andy Robertson and the tragic loss of Diogo Jota — the impact of his death on the entire squad cannot be under-estimated — this was 100 per cent the first real Slot team, rather than continuity Klopp.
Yet arguably none of those summer signings have really worked.
Defensively, both Milos Kerkez, 21, and 24-year-old Jeremie Frimpong have been suspect, while Wirtz and Isak have been part of the general malaise — and even the early promise of Hugo Etitike has waned recently.
More critically, Slot appears to lack the courage of his own convictions.
Incredibly, across those successive Prem defeats against Palace, Chelsea, Manchester United and Brentford, the only players on the pitch for all the final whistles were skipper Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Hungarian midfielder has also been one of FOUR players utilised at right-back across those matches.
By publicly signposting his side’s defensive frailties against long throws and set-pieces, Slot has encouraged opponents to target that weakness, making it a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Slot has to grasp the nettle, swiftly. Or the ringing in his ears will be an alarm bell. Dilly-ding, dilly-gone?
A KAN-ING
HARRY KANE scoring 49 goals in a season isn’t enough to get him on the shortlist for FIFPRO team of the year.
Apparently there are 26 who were better than the England skipper in 2024-25, including eight strikers, NONE of whom scored more than him.
Maybe he should just wear a Cristiano Ronaldo mask — that seems to be enough.
HELLS BELLS
THOMAS TUCHEL might have created the firestorm around Jude Bellingham.
But he can put the flames out next week.
Bellingham’s El Clasico winner for Real Madrid against Barcelona on Sunday was further proof that the midfielder is a difference-maker.
Confirm Bellingham in the squad for the final two World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, answer the questions that will come — and make it clear the Bernabeu star is a key part of his planning.
Just try not to bring up your mother again, for a while.
HAMMERED IN
FRUSTRATED West Ham fans are promising a sit-in protest after Sunday’s home clash with Newcastle.
Talk about gluttons for punishment.
Mind you, seeing the London Stadium ground staff in action might be less painful than watching the Hammers try to defend a corner.
MOYE LIKE IT
SO refreshing to hear a Premier League manager agree that a contentious call against his club was CORRECT.
David Moyes could easily have jumped on the Grievance Express after VAR ruled out an early “equaliser” for Everton in their home defeat by Spurs.
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After all, he would not be the first boss willing to argue that white was black rather than accept a decision that went against him.
Instead, Moyes admitted Stockley Park was right to intervene and rule both Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye were offside and impeding Guglielmo Vicario as Jake O’Brien headed in. I’d love to think it will catch on. But it won’t.
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