Alan Shearer and Micah Richards agree on whether Slot should remain at Liverpool for next season

Alan Shearer and Micah Richards have both backed Arne Slot to continue as Liverpool head coach into next season, despite the Reds’ bitterly disappointing 2025/26 campaign.

The 3-2 loss to arch-rivals Manchester United on Sunday was LFC’s 19th defeat of the season in all competitions (including penalty shootouts), more than twice as many games as they lost in 2024/25 and comprising 35.2% of all matches played this term.

The head coach has come under serious scrutiny over the past few months, with Danny Murphy among those who’ve called for FSG to make a change in the dugout, but two of his fellow BBC pundits would like to see the Anfield hierarchy sticking with the Dutchman.

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAY

Shearer and Richards both call for Slot to remain

On the latest episode of The Rest Is Football, which was recorded after the game at Old Trafford yesterday, Gary Lineker asked Shearer and Richards if they think Slot will remain in charge for next term.

The ex-Newcastle striker replied: “I think so. What he did last season in winning the league, manager of the season – I guess with the issues and the problems they’ve had at Liverpool this year, then yeah I do. If it was my choice, then I would have him as manager.”

Richards agreed, saying: “I would still have him. They’re in the Champions League positions, [won the] Premier League last season.

“I think where the scrutiny comes is that the signings haven’t worked. Isak’s been injured. Wirtz has not been at the level that we all expected. Frimpong – is he a right winger or a right-back? Kerkez has been a shadow of the player he was at Bournemouth.

“Liverpool, all in all, are too slow. They’re too passive. They’re too easy to play against. What you normally associate Liverpool with is being aggressive and hard to beat, especially under [Jurgen] Klopp, and they’re none of those things. I’d like to see the manager get a chance to change that.”

Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Liverpool have gone backwards under Slot

Although the Reds are still likely to qualify for the Champions League despite yesterday’s result, the debate over Slot’s future will continue going into the summer, with his team falling way short of pre-season expectations.

Daniel Sturridge made the damning comment after the loss to Man United that Liverpool still don’t have a discernible ‘identity’ after two years under their current head coach, in contrast to how they forged a clear style of play under Klopp within a few months of his appointment in 2015.

The paradox is that, when we last visited Old Trafford in September 2024, it was only three games into Slot’s tenure, and yet LFC were so much more cohesive, fluid and – crucially – determined than they were on Sunday.

The case will be made that the 47-year-old was benefitting from what Klopp had bequeathed to him, although there were still some nuanced tweaks which hinted at what was to come last season. Yesterday, even allowing for several high-profile injury absences, the Reds were unacceptably submissive in the first half in particular.

We don’t want Liverpool to become a ‘revolving door’ club who jettison managers/head coaches with frivolity, but even three wins to finish out this campaign would do little to quell the scrutiny surrounding the Dutchman, and he surely realises it.

The post Alan Shearer and Micah Richards agree on whether Slot should remain at Liverpool for next season appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.