Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has revealed what he thinks it would take for his former club to sack head coach Arne Slot in the coming weeks/months.
Slot has suffered a dramatic fall from grace since helping Liverpool win their 20th Premier League title at the end of last season.
The Dutchman is the favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked after Bournemouth ended Liverpool’s unconvincing unbeaten run at the weekend.
A poorly handled summer transfer window and the decline of key stars have contributed to Liverpool’s downfall, but Slot has made a string of poor decisions and is also under fire for his tedious tactics.
Slot appears to be losing fan support, with supporters clamouring for the appointment of former Real Madrid boss and club legend Xabi Alonso after he was FSG’s first choice to replace Jurgen Klopp.
This means Slot is in a real fight to keep his job, with Liverpool likely to be in a fight with Chelsea and Manchester United for two Champions League places.
And according to Carragher, Slot will not have a “leg to stand on” if Liverpool do not qualify for the Champions League.
“If you don’t qualify for the Champions League, having won the league the season before and spent as much as Liverpool, I don’t think you’ve got a leg to stand on,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
READ: Alonso ‘requests’ five Liverpool sales after the Reds make the decision to sack Slot
“The real worry I have for Liverpool in terms of qualifying for the Champions League is the three big things that stand out in the Premier League now are set-pieces, counter-attacking football and coming up against low blocks.
“Liverpool can’t cope with any of them. What we’re seeing is a team in the Premier League that’s not suited to the Premier League.
“Once you start seeing what Manchester United and Chelsea have done in the last couple of weeks, you start seeing that Liverpool could actually finish outside the Champions League positions. I really fear for them.
“Once you start fearing Champions League qualification for next season, that’s when I think we’ve got a completely different proposition when we’re talking about the manager’s job. That, for me, is completely different.
“If we’re talking about not winning the league or challenging for the league, that is a collective responsibility, and Liverpool don’t win the league every year.
“Not making the Champions League from [being] champions, spending £450m and having the highest wage bill in the Premier League, which is normally the biggest determining factor over where you finish in the league, I think you’ve got serious questions to ask.”
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Carragher has also explained why he thinks Liverpool need to “bring forward” their plans for a new centre-back to this month’s window after missing out on Manchester CIty newbie Marc Guehi.
“Liverpool have always had a policy of waiting for the guy they want. Not panicking,” Carragher added.
“Liverpool are short at the back. If they had to pay a bit extra for someone they wanted in the summer, I would bring that forward.
“I’m not interested in Liverpool buying a player they’re not fully convinced of.
“Besides that summer, Liverpool’s track record in the transfer market over the last seven or eight years has been pretty good. It’s not looking as good this summer.
“I’m still backing them to make the right decisions and the right decision is to buy a defender. If Virgil van Dijk got an injury that would write off the season.
“Maybe they’ve got something up their sleeve, but I don’t want them to panic buy.”
