Exclusive: Arne Slot ignites Liverpool civil war over Richard Hughes clash
Arne Slot ignited a civil war in the summer over Liverpool's transfer policy.
The Dutchman's job is not safe by any stretch of the imagination at Anfield. Slot may have gone nine games unbeaten leading to Liverpool's visit to the Emirates later this week, but performances have been poor.
Draws with Fulham, Leeds United (twice) and Sunderland have been disappointing. Even the wins have been narrow and have come through a great struggle.
Slot doesn't seem to have an idea or a defined system when it comes to Liverpool's attacking play. He has steady the ship defensively but at the cost of Liverpool's attack.
Currently, he's got Liverpool playing a very basic system that has neither the backing of the fans, nor (probably) anyone else associated with the club.
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But the issues are deeper at Anfield than just performances on the pitch. Liverpool's hierarchy have a very specific idea of not only how they want the club to play but how they want the club to be run by their head-coach.
Over the summer, Hughes and his recruitment team were keen for Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni to be given bigger roles at first-team level following impressive performances in pre-season.
Ngumoha had just made five goal contributions in five games. Nyoni had also caught the eye and in previous seasons under Jurgen Klopp the same kind of performances would have led to more first-team opportunities during the regular campaign.
Stefan Bajcetic, Jarell Quansah and many others have benefitted from Klopp rewarding them after a strong pre-season.
But Slot was not of the same mindset.
He wanted Liverpool to loan Ngumoha after Luis Diaz was sold and pushed the Reds to pursue a move for Bradley Barcola or Malick Fofana.
During the heated clash, Anfield Watch understands Hughes refused to give in to Slot's demands and informed the club's head-coach that he would have to play Ngumoha and give him regular opportunities in the first-team.
This has been a source of contention between the hierarchy and Slot ever since. The Dutchman has neglected to use Ngumoha on a regular basis despite insistence from Hughes and others.
The club's hierarchy has made it clear they expect academy players to be integrated into the first-team set-up. Slot insists he needs players for the now, and has little interest in working with the club's academy stars nor to try and develop them.
It's a stark contrast to Klopp, and it has created a civil war within the walls of the AXA training centre.
Liverpool's academy staff and hierarchy have made numerous attempts to try and get Slot more involved with younger players.
Anfield Watch understands the club tried to coordinate U21 sessions to take place simultaneously with the first-team and last month the club organised an academy showcase designed for Slot and his first-team coaching staff to have a look at the best talents in the academy.
Anfield Watch however understands that while some first-team coaches were present, Slot did not attend the showcase himself.
Hiring Brazilian Luiz Fernando Iubel as an individual coach in the summer was also an attempt to compensate for Slot's reluctance to work with younger players.
Iubel's role at the moment is concentrated on working with those young players instead of Slot.
Hughes and Edwards believe a Liverpool head-coach not only has to be successful but they also have to be able to work and develop young talents from within the academy.
The club's entire transfer policy leans very heavily towards being able to sell academy assets for major profit as well as integrating young stars into the first-team squad to give the head-coach more options.
There's been growing concerns that should Slot stay at the helm long-term, Liverpool would be unable to successfully achieve both ambitions.
Now that results and performances are also below what is expected of the team, Slot's future is very much hanging on by the thinnest of threads.
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Comments
Some clubs have head coaches and some managers. Here at Liverpool we need a manager who can choose who he wants to bring in and what positions so he can build his own team and not have someone else decide who, stays and goes and comes in. In our case Slot was given a well oiled machine thanks to Klopp and Hughes's plans took a sledgehammer to it and sold off some major parts and brought in some that aren't 100% compatible gets the machine back together only to find important pieces are missing
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I think its quite clear that yes we have spent ÂŁ450m but we have not spent wisely and in the places we needed to full back and centre back are what we needed, that has become more apparent as the season progressed the wholes at the back if this is not sorted we are in deep xxxx. Between Hughes and Edwards they have decimated the team sold off the assets brought in new, the team is disjointed and has had no time to gel. I feel for Slot who has had to try and sort this mess out that Hughes and Edwards have caused.
Liverpool have been the most boring and uninspiring team to watch this season. The football is painfully slow, dominated by endless lateral and backward passing, with very little creativity, urgency, or incisive play. There is no aggression off the ball, and on the ball the team looks passive, soft, and predictable.
Arne Slot’s system has become tactically stale and extremely easy to neutralise. The slow tempo and rigid movement make Liverpool simple to defend against. While his “control-based” approach may have caught opponents off guard in his first season, that advantage has completely disappeared. This season, even weaker sides like Leeds, Wolves, and West Ham have clearly figured Liverpool out — and they now look fully capable of beating them on any given day.
What was once known as heavy metal football has now deteriorated into something unrecognisable. This is no longer intensity, speed, or dominance — it is soft, lifeless football, lacking identity, bite, and ambition. Liverpool have gone from intimidating opponents to inviting pressure.
The reality is unavoidable: Slot’s approach has failed. Just as Amorim was shown the door when his system stopped working, the same decision must be made here. Liverpool cannot afford to persist with a manager whose style drains excitement, suppresses aggression, and leaves the team tactically exposed.
Arne Slot must be sacked. This brand of football does not belong at Liverpool Football Club.
I want To see aggressive press, but We also need To dictate games keeping the Ball. Because theres not a team Who could press 38games.so press City, and if lead, keep the Ball wisely. Slot is rightly trying To manager our playing, because we were conceding so much. But. By some point you should go back To 4-3-3.and now its the time. Gvav, Kona, jonesy and others can now manage counters better. And put Rio regularly In. We need speed and trickery. Wirtz can make play buy right Side. It should work. Please commenting mates, scousers
Yeah, Slot wanted Barcola. That was right. But he should have been targeting our right Side, not left. And the Wirtz thing... He needs someone To spank him, More, More!!! He have To get More muscle. Which I heard he is luckily already doing. But he must be the King, Who dominates everything. Like De Bruyine. He is quite cool inside games.. Maybe he should let More feeling To his game. Raging some times and be the arrogant f... Er like"this is my pitch, I rules here! "
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Reading this article makes things 100% clearer Hughes is the problem in not letting the Manager manage his team this is why were in the mess were in Hughes needs to back off and let Slot do the job he is paid to do . To Hughes I say this do your job and put this right get the signings in and stop the talk talk that you seem to be good at and one last thing stop interfering.
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