Will Champions League save Slot at Liverpool?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
the Athletic FC.
Hi there and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me Adam Leventhal.
How did Liverpool narrowly secure Champions League qualification despite a poor season?
So Liverpool will play Champions League football next season despite finishing closer to the relegation zone than they did to the Champions Arsenal. So is that enough for Arne Slott to keep his job at Anfield? Well, with me for this one, we are joined by The Athletic's Liverpool correspondent, James Pearce, and James Horncastle, who has his finger on the pulse of so many things across the wide world of football, is here with us as well. So, Liverpool, they just crawled over the line, didn't they, on Sunday with that one-all home draw with Brentford. Fifth and failed to win any of their last four games, drawing two and losing two. James, you've... James Pearce, I should say. We've got two Jameses. Pearce, it's going to be like primary school.
Yes, sir. Yes, quite. How do you feel after this season? Because it's been quite a drop-off, hasn't it?
Yeah, I think probably like most Liverpool supporters, just glad it's over because it's been a struggle almost from start to finish. Of course, it started way, way back at the start of pre-season last July in tragic circumstances with the loss of Diogo Jota. And I think there was an acceptance then, certainly internally, it was going to be a really difficult season in the circumstances. But I think it turned out to be Probably even tougher than anyone anticipated with a whole host of factors, which I'm sure we'll come on to discuss. Contributing to what Liverpool ended up with, 60 points, their lowest total for a decade, 24 worse off than when they won the title a year ago, 23 goals fewer, their
worst goal return for a decade and you know defensively it was even worse you know 53 conceded you have to go back to 1993-94 for the last time Liverpool were that bad defensively in the Premier League and that was actually in a 42 game season rather than 38.
And I think it's important that we talk about that exceptional thing that happened outside of the normal realms of football and the loss of Diogo Jota right at the start, because a lot of people will be thinking, well, how could they ever have the same sort of season as they did winning the title when they've lost someone from the dressing room? That can't be understated, can it?
No, I think that is unprecedented, Adam. And, you know, we are not privy to how the players have handled that, who it's affected more, how the club has kind of tried to support coaching staff and players move on if they can move on. I still remember, was it the first game against Bournemouth at the start of the season? Yeah. the tears in Mohamed Salah's eyes after that game. And it really brought home, if it needed to be brought home, how much that shocking news affected this group of players. And it's such a season of mixed emotions, extremes of emotions, if you like, because in parallel to the death of Diego Jota, which obviously meant that Liverpool's squad planning for the summer and this season radically altered in a way that they could not have predicted.
How Liverpool went about their summer, I think, also probably created quite a lot of excitement and expectation on top of what they achieved last year, which was a championship that I think few people expected them to win. maybe reflected too well on this team and group of players. But certainly, the transfer spend that they had led a lot of people to believe, wow, this is the realization of the FSG model, which was to be self-sustainable. And to still get themselves in a position within the self-sustainable model to be able to spend with the very best and biggest clubs in Europe who are set up differently with sovereign wealth funds behind them. Everything that they have done to boost match day revenue, commercial revenue, we saw it manifest in the spend that they had.
And Yeah, just listening to the statistics that James reeled off there, particularly the one about how many few goals they've scored this season, when everyone thought that signing Eketike, signing Izak, would, if anything, allow them to match the goals they scored last year, but probably do better than that.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:09
2
How did Liverpool narrowly secure Champions League qualification despite a poor season?
0:09–7:29
3
What impact did Diogo Jota's death and early-season events have on Liverpool's campaign?
7:29–36:22
4
Is Arne Slot likely to keep his job after this inconsistent season?
36:22–38:10
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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