Jamie Carragher says Arne Slot has roughly seven days to turn around Liverpool’s season and secure his position after a damaging run of results.
Liverpool endured a 4-1 Champions League defeat to PSV at Anfield on Wednesday, their ninth loss in 12 matches across all competitions. The Premier League champions sit 12th after 12 games and face a favourable run of fixtures — West Ham away on Sunday, then home matches against promoted Leeds and Sunderland — that Carragher believes gives Slot a last realistic chance to rebuild trust.
Writing in his Telegraph column, Carragher warned that “anything fewer than seven points will make an already unacceptable situation untenable.” He argued the club cannot sustain the dramatic drop in standards seen over the past three months. Although Liverpool have historically been patient with managers, the scale of the recent slide has left Slot “hanging on” barely six months after lifting the title.
Tactical concerns sit at the heart of Carragher’s critique. He says Slot’s changes have moved the team away from the defensive solidity that underpinned recent success and promoted a risky “all-out attacking” approach that has not worked. Carragher felt several of those choices “felt wrong on day one of the season” and have helped create the current crisis, which has included three successive defeats by three or more goals — a run Liverpool have not suffered since December 1953.
Recruitment decisions also drew criticism. Carragher described the summer window as producing an “unbalanced squad,” highlighting big-money signings Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike as problematic because they compete for the same role. He likened signing two forwards who play the same position to “betting on two horses in the same race.” Carragher also suggested that failing to spend relatively modestly to secure Marc Guehi compounded the club’s issues and could prove costly if Liverpool miss out on next season’s Champions League.
Carragher pointed to Liverpool’s ageing spine as another key issue exposed by the PSV defeat. Virgil van Dijk conceded a penalty, Mohamed Salah again failed to score or assist, and Alisson was absent due to injury. He warned the rest of the squad have not sufficiently compensated for those setbacks and suggested supporters may be seeing “a glimpse of the future” without the trio at their peak. Carragher stressed how much those three contributed to the club’s success and said injuries and decline have reduced their influence.
He urged senior players to speak directly to fans to explain what they are doing to improve and questioned whether several squad members are still good enough to compete for top trophies. Carragher referenced poor recent displays in cup and European matches where the team relied on its greatest players to cover shortcomings.
On CBS Sports he reiterated that Liverpool are not typically quick to sack successful managers, but acknowledged the situation could become “untenable” if the slump continues. He stopped short of calling for immediate dismissal but warned the club would have to look elsewhere if Slot fails to get positive results from the upcoming fixtures.
Key context: Liverpool have lost nine of their last 12 games — their heaviest 12-game run of defeats since November 1953–January 1954 — and have suffered three straight losses by three or more goals for the first time since December 1953.
Conclusion: Carragher’s assessment combines tactical, recruitment and personnel concerns. The next three matches offer Slot a vital opportunity to arrest the decline; if they do not produce a clear upturn, the club may be forced to consider a different course.