Jamie Carragher believes Arne Slott may find it “very difficult” to win back the support of Liverpool fans as the Reds continue to struggle this season.
Many spectators booed the final whistle of Sunday’s 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur, with the manager admitting the reaction was “understandable” following defeats to Wolves and Galatasaray in the past two weeks.
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Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher said it was a worrying sign for the Dutchman as even Liverpool’s match support was starting to turn against him and the scale of the boos on Sunday night was difficult to ignore.
Carragher worried about Slott’s performance after Sunday’s turning point
Experts explain: “The bigger point is how worrying this is for the manager. I think most supporters see something different online and on social media than fans watching the game live.
“I think for most of the season when people attacked Arne Slott, the fans who were at the games followed him. You look back at what happened with Mo Salah – the next away game was at the San Siro and they were chanting for Arne Slott and it’s not easy for Liverpool fans to attack a manager who won the title 12 months ago.”
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“I feel like there’s been a big change [on Sunday] In terms of how the crowd feels about the team and their manager. The boos at the end, and they were the right ones, were a very unhappy and disgruntled group of fans and I think it would be really hard for Arn Slott to get them back. Once you lose that group of people, it’s very difficult.
“There could be something very special happening in terms of the Champions League, maybe even the FA Cup, but I think a lot of fans are unhappy with what happened last week – especially Wolves and Tottenham by a point and the first-leg loss to Galatasaray.”
This isn’t the first time this season that Anfield has been booed.
Liverpool fans don’t take offense to their team and manager easily, so Sunday’s boos certainly resonated, and it’s not the first such reaction at Anfield this season.
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Three-goal defeats at home to Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven in November were also met with boos at the end, and a similar result against Galatasaray tomorrow night is likely to spark even greater discontent.
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There are reports that betting on Slott becoming the next Premier League manager to lose his job surged after the draw with Tottenham, and it wasn’t just poor performance on the pitch that caused many Reds fans to lose faith in the 47-year-old.
Liverpool’s performances this season – even in the few wins they have achieved – have been lackluster and uninspiring, while repeated concessions to result-changing goals in the final minutes of games hint at long-standing mental issues within the squad.
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Wins against Galatasaray and Brighton will be crucial to at least buy the Dutchman some breathing space during the international break and provide a platform for what is expected to be a strong finish to the season, similar to what Jurgen Klopp has inspired in 2022/23 and especially 2020/21.