“Wouldn’t be surprised if…” – Stephen Warnock issues Slot sack verdict as Liverpool lose again

Stephen Warnock has said that he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if Liverpool dispensed with Arne Slot at the end of this season if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.

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The Reds missed the opportunity to strengthen their case for a top-five finish on Tuesday night after losing at bottom club Wolves, and they’d drop back down to sixth if Chelsea were to win at positional rivals Aston Villa tonight.

Warnock: Slot could be sacked if Liverpool miss out on top five

Some pundits have suggested that the Dutchman could lose his job if the outgoing Premier League champions miss out on a place in Europe’s top club tournament for 2026/27, and Warnock has joined that chorus of opinion.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday (before the game at Molineux), the former LFC defender said: “Liverpool are nowhere near where they would like to be. When you think about reigning champions and the title defence, it’s not gone to plan at all.

“There is a lot of talk about Arne Slot and what possibly might happen at the end of the season; and I think if he doesn’t get Champions League football, I wouldn’t be surprised if the club made a change.”

Slot will know his job is on the line if Liverpool miss out on top five

It seems highly unlikely that the Liverpool head coach will be sacked before the end of the campaign, with David Lynch previously indicating that the Anfield hierarchy would be incredibly reluctant to make a managerial change mid-season.

However, if the Reds fail to qualify for the Champions League and duly miss out on millions in revenue, the case for keeping Slot could become harder to justify, particularly when we began 2025/26 as many people’s favourites to retain the Premier League title.

LFC could withstand one season outside of Europe’s main club competition, as they did at the end of Jurgen Klopp’s reign, but the danger is that missing out once could trigger a downward spiral which results in several years on the outside looking in.

It happened to Liverpool after Rafael Benitez’s departure, with just one appearance in the Champions League in seven seasons between 2010/11 and 2016/17 (and even that ended with group-stage elimination). Arsenal also went through six consecutive seasons of failing to qualify for that tournament between 2017 and 2023, so the worrying case studies are there.

Slot will privately realise that his job may well be contingent on getting his team back into Europe’s main competition for next term, and even that mightn’t yet be enough after a calamitous few months in L4. The stakes between now and the end of May could hardly be higher.

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