"The Final Nail in the Coffin"

Arne Slot‘s stock has never been lower at Liverpool, with supporters wondering if the end is nigh for the Reds’ head coach.

The Premier League champions could only draw 1-1 at home to Burnley on Saturday afternoon, as Slot’s side produced another limp performance.

It’s now only five league wins in the last 17 games for Liverpool, following a disappointing season that few saw coming.

Here, This is Anfield’s Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) and The Redmen TV’s Dan Clubbe (@dan_clubbe) discuss one of the Reds’ poorest results of the season, as well as Slot’s future.

The good…

DAN: Twelve unbeaten, sounds good at least. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and I’m not so convinced.

Wirtz is single-handedly keeping Liverpool remotely watchable at present.

That might be an exaggeration, but that finish was perfection and he’s playing with a tempo, swagger and a way that befits what I believe Liverpool should look like.

Whilst many don’t want to hear it – understandable after four draws and an unwanted broken record against newly-promoted sides – we created enough to be out of sight and have the game won against yet another low block.

But for that penalty, a goal line clearance or two, a few decent if not spectacular saves and admittedly our own wastefulness, we should’ve been home and hosed with time to spare.

HENRY: Wirtz was twice as good as any player on the pitch, and was just about the only positive.

He is a very special player, possessing so much technical ability and intelligence in and out of possession. It’s a crime that he’s playing in such an average team at the moment.

Was there really anything else to shout about?

I’m not even counting this as an unbeaten run at this point!

The bad…

DAN: The difference between the two halves was frightening. In control and ready to exert our dominance, albeit with a penalty blunder to forget, we became passive again.

We let Burnley grow in confidence, then had an all too familiar five-minute dizzy spell that saw Konate almost put into his own net before the goal arrived.

There was an inevitability that there was to be a sting in the tail – a concerning trend that we seem incapable of bucking.

Considering we were meant to have sacrificed some creativity for enhanced solidity, we are frighteningly easy to create promising moments against, and this is Burnley at Anfield!

This is going to hurt, but Gakpo was a negative. I’ve been among his biggest fans, and maybe he’s suffering from having almost vice-like ownership of the shirt, but for a man so involved in crucial moments, we need more.

We need more unpredictability, more excitement, more everything.

HENRY: Where to start!

Liverpool have been abominable in the second half of so many games this season, and this was no different.

As Dan says, the equaliser was painfully inevitable after not putting the game to bed – I’m almost surprised we didn’t lose in the end.

I’ve never liked Gakpo as much as Dan, and frankly, he is driving me insane at this point!

If you’re going to cut inside time and time and time and time again, you have to be incredibly consistent with your end product, like a Mo Salah. But Gakpo is not.

Perhaps the most damning thing is that watching Liverpool play feels like a chore at the moment, which is a grim situation to be in.

The football is turgid and a million miles from the Klopp era.

Is a change needed now?

DAN: I’ve noticed that, for many, this was the defining moment – the result that put the final nail in the coffin for Slot.

But this wasn’t the draw that broke the camel’s back for me, although it’s certainly piled on the pressure even more.

My biggest worry is whether the job has become too big for him. I don’t know whether his style suits us, I don’t know whether he suits us, which is all pretty damning, admittedly.

On the pitch, he’s not learning from mistakes. We’re sleepwalking through matches with little to no passion, and that goes against everything we want to be.

All of that said, I don’t think we would gain anything from making a change unless it was for Xabi Alonso, as he would provide both the feel-good factor of familiarity, popularity and returning legend, whilst also being a top-class coach with plenty to prove for the future.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more the prospect of missing out on Alonso and potentially regretting it for the next decade concerns me, so Liverpool need to keep a keen eye on the Spaniard’s movements.

HENRY: Like Dan, this definitely felt like the moment many rational fans changed their stance on Slot.

He is performing terribly this season, from tactics to post-match comments, and has traded attacking football for nothing football.

He feels like he is playing football to save his job, rather than to aid Liverpool.

I like to think I’m the opposite of knee-jerk when it comes to manager sackings, but I just don’t see how Slot turns this around now.

It takes a lot for boos to ring around Anfield, but they were wholly deserved and it felt very telling.

There’s a Liverpool legend waiting in the wings who feels like the most natural and exciting option – go and get him!

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