My son phoned me with the news as I left the Gaza vigil in Drogheda town centre. Relief was the dominant emotion. Anfield had become a funeral home where a corpse was managing a team of zombies. The unprecedented boos that echoed around the stadium after yet another poor performance had themselves become a repeat performance. There was a serious problem. But a greater problem was that the coach knew it but showed not a modicum of the ability needed to fix it. Tactics and strategy wise, Arne Slot seemed brain dead with zero chance of recovery. For coach, players and supporters alike, as an act of mercy, the off switch had to be reached for at some point.
I had given up hope. When Xabi Alonso went to Chelsea the boat looked as if it had been missed. There seemed no way he would have opted for the bright blue lights of London had there been a vacancy under the red night sky of Liverpool. Anfield appeared destined to be stuck with Slot for a further year, with the likelihood that the rot would eat even further into the cadaver. Perhaps Liverpool did not intend letting Slot go and their minds were changed by the dismal end of season run-in where they won three out of ten games and took only two points from their last four matches. Finishing considerably worse than they started was never going to lead to a surge in demand for season tickets.
It was a dignified parting of the ways. The club waited until the end of the season before issuing Slot with his one way ticket to the Netherlands. Gracious in its statement to the public, this was not the work of some hired silver tongued wordsmith to whom bamboozling was part of the job description. It warmly thanked Slot for securing the English Premier League title, but indicated that for the club to once again reach that level of success a new approach was needed.
Slot deserves lavish praise for his achievements in his first term in charge. It is hinted at, sometimes stated boldly, that he won the title with Klopp's team, that when he assembled his own it proved lacklustre and underwhelming. More descriptive than substantive the point is missed. Slot won the title with a team that it looked increasingly unlikely Klopp could win it with. In the German's final season with the club Liverpool ran out of puff at the end and squandered silverware that seemed destined for the Reds' trophy room. A year older, and slower, by the time Slot completed his one successful season in charge, it is testimony to his ability that he manged to squeeze major success out of it.
It was clear by the start of the season just finished that it was a herculean effort the Dutch coach was unlikely ever to repeat. From the get go the signs were there. The edifice was trembling and tottering, ultimately destined to topple. Like Humpty Dumpty all the Kings horses and all the King's men were not for putting it together again. Besides, Kings don't seem universally popular on Merseyside. When the much vaunted and costly German prince arrived from Bayer Leverkusen he didn't shine anywhere near as brightly as the neon lights heralding his intro. The even more pricey Swedish price was considerably less impressive although he did pick up a nasty injury along the way. A year of expensive talent wasted. While the French prince delivered in style, his contribution was devalued by the failure of those around him to do likewise, none more so than the Egyptian pharaoh. Salah can complain all he wants about the playing style of Slot not being suited to his prowess. But with Klopp gone Salah stepped into the boots of the recently departed Darwin Nunez to demonstrate that he could miss golden opportunities on a par with the Uruguayan. Salah was not the steeplechaser of old. Slot's blunder was not to have played him wrongly but to have played him at all.
Slot's low intensity, low energy style of play resulted in low morale and a lower than expected position in the league table. Time will tell if the high energy high intensity style about to descend on Anfield will lead to Andoni Iraola becoming the coach who somewhere deep within his kitbag possesses the antidote for Liverpool lethargy. That he opted for a two contract suggests he has seen a glimpse of the possible future and is not prepared to take a hit for if after two years it all goes South. He then too might go South but, like Xabi Alonso, to manage one of the big London sides in pursuit of a success judged unattainable on Merseyside.
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