Liverpool hosted a roundtable discussion between Sporting Director Richard Hughes, CEO Billy Hogan, and manager Arne Slot. The trio reminisced about past glories, acknowledged current struggles and outlined a plan for the future of Liverpool Football Club.
The Timing
According to a press release by the club, the roundtable discussion took place after Liverpool’s win over Barnsley in the FA Cup. Why wait till now (February 3rd) to release it? The biggest reason is that calls for and rumours about Slot’s sacking have increased since an ugly loss to Bournemouth. The video is meant to show that the ownership still has full faith in Slot. Considering that the Reds have won two matches in a row by a combined score of 10-1, this is the perfect time to express that faith, because the recent results on the pitch are rewarding it.
The Message: The Past
Supporters can watch the full 35-minute video here and see all that was said, but it boils down to three main parts: The Past, The Present and The Future. The video opens showing scenes from the Reds EPL-winning campaign last season. The message was clear, without saying it directly, Liverpool brass were strongly implying that you don’t sack a manager who won the EPL just last season.
“I’m still in awe of what I saw that day,” Hughes said. “When we were going around in that parade, and just looking at other people experiencing this - for the first time in some cases - I don’t think we ever were, but if you were ever in any doubt about how big a club this is, it was gone forever after you see those scenes.”
The Present
Slot acknowledged the challenges the club has had this season, even saying he agrees with the fans’ criticism for the most part. A lot of that criticism comes from the fact that Slot has gone away from Jürgen Klopp and his “heavy metal” style of football. Slot is more measured in his style of play and on the touchline, and he admits that he prefers “nice football” instead.
“You can win the league, win the Champions League, an FA Cup or a League Cup, but the biggest thing you can win is that you can play the nicest football to watch,” Slot said.
“Although at this moment of time, fans might argue this a little bit, it is absolutely something that I am aiming for. I always want to have the ball, be intense, and I want the fans to like what they see. That is something that I dislike the most, even more than our results — that not all of our fans are every single moment of the game, seeing us as a joy to watch. The hardest thing is I even understand, because I agree with them.”
The Future
Football fans have always and rightly so, wanted their team to win right now, but ownership has urged patience, saying that the team has to look at the mid-range and long-range plans of the club and avoid rash decisions in the short term.
“This has been a challenging last several months, but there is an element of patience which is required — difficult in the world we live in,” Hogan said.
You can see the truth in Hogan's words. Take the Hugo Ekitiké and Florian Wirtz pairing. It took a while for it to pay off in goals but now it appears the switch has flipped and the Reds are better off for those signings The trio also discussed their recruiting strategy (Look for a more in depth article on this later in the week) In short it’s to recruit young players and have them play at Anfield for many years instead of signing someone to provide a quick fix.
LFC Globe Verdict
This was the perfect response to all the noise and rumours flying around the club. Ownership and Slot acknowledged the struggles, but laid out plans on how to address them. As for the theory that there is disharmony in the dressing room, captain Virgil van Dijk laid those to rest with a statement to the media.
"If you're going to read all that stuff [on social media], one week you could be the hero and the next week the villain. I spoke last week about how [much] worse and difficult it's getting every year. For the next generation, it will be a very big challenge. Every era has its own challenges, and that part of outside the game will be a big challenge for the next generation, and it's already a challenge for this generation. I don't think there has been any question about [togetherness] internally. I don't think there's any disharmony. There are obviously challenges that happen, and everyone is dealing with certain situations in a different way. It's also about dealing with it together and how we are going to fix it and change things around. That's something that makes you stronger as a team, and if you come out of it like we should do, hopefully as we have the quality, then I think it can only improve you as a team and as a player as well."
Of course, some pundits are dismissing the round table and Van Dijk’s statements as a “PR stunt”, insisting that Slot’s sacking is imminent. That’s just not true, as confirmation of support for Slot has come directly from the club’s top brass. Hopefully, we as fans can follow the lead of the club and block out all the noise with our deafening cheers of support for the Reds
Image: Liverpool FC / YouTube
