Exclusive: Former Liverpool defender Glen Johnson speaks to ReadLiverpoolfc.com about the pressure Arne Slot is currently facing in the Anfield hot-seat, with the ex-Reds full-back suggesting that the Dutchman should be kept in the dug-out, beyond this season.
Glen Johnson has suggested that Slot “set the bar” so high last season that he demands a bit more patience from the disgruntled Anfield masses.
Still, the former Feyenoord boss has done himself no favours when it comes to his long-term job security on Merseyside, after taking in Liverpool’s lifeless performance against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
Last year, when Liverpool travelled to the French capital, they put in a spirited and energetic performance, which led to a memorable 1-0 win occurring.
This time around, the Reds were nowhere near these previous vibrant levels, as the visitors to the Parc Des Princes could only register three shots on goal, collapsing to a 2-0 defeat, subsequently.
There is still a second leg to be played, but it’s looking likely that PSG will knock Slot’s men out of Europe’s elite competition for the second year in a row.
Various pundits have been calling for the Premier League title winner’s to be sacked for some time now, including ex-Reds attacker Jermaine Pennant, who took to social media after the defeat in Paris to declare the team as “unrecognisable” now from their debut season heroics under the Dutchman.
If he fails in his ongoing mission to reach the top four positions in the Premier League, surely Slot will be put out of his misery, as his bruised team could be sat on a devastating 18 losses for the season if they come unstuck to Fulham on Saturday.
Amazingly, though, Johnson has come out to defend the under-fire head coach when exclusively chatting to ReadLiverpoolFC.com
Johnson comments on Slot’s future
Lifting two Premier League titles, himself, across a career that saw him line up 200 times for Liverpool, Johnson was a top-flight veteran by the time he hung up his boots.
Speaking exclusively with ReadLiverpoolFC via CasinoWizard, who offer the best football slots, the 41-year-old has called for patience by stating:
‘You don’t like to see managers getting sacked, and sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. [Arne] Slot is the manager who set the bar so high last season and continued it.
“There’s only so long you can keep the bar that high and so and form dips in and out. For me he’s got to reevaluate the squad and go again in the summer and next season.
“We know he is capable of producing because he has already done it. I do not want to see managers getting sacked. I’d love him to stay and almost start again.”
Johnson believes a couple of new additions in the transfer department in the summer, as the Reds hunt down a long-term Mohamed Salah successor, could bring the excitement back and reinvigorate Slot on the sidelines.
He further said: “It would need a very good preseason and a couple of new additions to get the excitement around the club again.
“That’s what every manager has to go through every season. So I think if they get that right, then of course they’re more than good enough to keep competing with the same manager.
“The more you look at it, the less it looks like Liverpool will finish in the top four this season but I don’t think that needs to be the end for Slot.”
It will be extremely interesting to see if the powers that be at Liverpool agree with Johnson’s bold comments, as he believes a failure to finish inside the top four positions shouldn’t be the end of the 47-year-old on Merseyside.
Slot will continue to skate on thin ice, as he prays his team gets back to winning ways against Fulham on the weekend, so he stands a chance of staying put for the long-term, like the former Reds defender backs.
