Micah Richards makes plea to Liverpool over Slot’s future as Shearer issues ominous prediction

Micah Richards has pleaded for Liverpool not to be overly hasty in sacking Arne Slot if there isn’t a discernible improvement in the final weeks of the season, although Alan Shearer believes the axe could soon drop on the head coach.

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James Pearce reported on Monday that FSG would like to keep the 47-year-old beyond this summer, but warned that the Dutchman’s position could become untenable if the current campaign ‘completely unravels’ between now and the end of May.

With LFC facing an uphill battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League and a daunting task in that competition over the next fortnight as they take on Paris Saint-Germain, there’s a fear that the current malaise could get much worse before it gets better.

Richards doesn’t want to see Slot sacked in the summer

Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Shearer claimed that not even qualification for Europe’s main club tournament via a top-five Premier League enough might be enough for Slot to keep his job, but Richards pleaded for the Anfield hierarchy not to completely disregard the domestic title win from 12 months ago.

He said about the Liverpool boss: “I’d like to see him get one more season. This season has been… I don’t want to say a transition, and I know a lot of people will say ‘Hold on, he’s spent a lot of money’, but their main striker [Alexander Isak] has been out [injured].

“They’ve had a death within the club with [Diogo] Jota, the whole thing with getting players over the line with contracts, the saga with Salah – nothing has been straightforward.

“I would like to see him with another pre-season and if next season it’s not going their way, then by Christmas, yeah, make the change. He’s a manager who has won the Premier League, let’s not forget, just last season.”

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Slot mightn’t survive much longer if Liverpool continue to flounder

Whilst there have certainly been mitigating circumstances for some of Liverpool’s woes this season – most significantly Jota’s tragic death last July – the extent of the drop-off over the past few months has been unacceptable.

Even when accounting for the injuries that the Reds have endured, they shouldn’t be scrambling just to secure fifth place with the players they’ve had available, and a return of 10 defeats from 31 Premier League games is horrific.

The sight of numerous LFC fans leaving the Etihad Stadium on Saturday with half an hour still remaining in the 4-0 thumping by Manchester City must surely strike a chord with FSG over the collective perception of the fan base towards Slot, who hasn’t been able to address on-field concerns which have been recurring throughout the campaign.

Whatever happens from here, the Dutchman will always have our gratitude for delivering the Premier League title a year ago, but almost all of the goodwill from that triumph has now disappeared, and surely anything other than Champions League qualification (by a top-five domestic finish or improbable glory in Budapest next month) would spell the end for him at Anfield.

If Liverpool are to jettison Slot, it’s best that it happens in the coming weeks in order for a replacement to have a full pre-season, rather than scrambling around for a successor in the middle of the 2026/27 campaign.

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