Arne Slot told he ‘won’t have a leg to stand on’ if Liverpool fail to qualify for Champions League as Jamie Carragher delivers brutal verdict

Slot has come under pressure in his second season at Anfield as his team have offered up a poor defence of their Premier League title despite a summer of heavy investment. The Reds splashed out on several players including Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez but are currently 14 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal. Slot has also clashed with talisman Mohamed Salah, who accused his manager of "throwing him under the bus" at the end of 2025, fuelling speculation about an exit. Carragher has now offered a damning assessment of Slot's team and admits Slot could be sacked in the summer.

Carragher said on Sky Sports: "If you don't qualify for the Champions League, having won the league the season before and spent as much as Liverpool, I don't think you've got a leg to stand on. The real worry I have for Liverpool in terms of qualifying for the Champions League is the three big things that stand out in the Premier League now are set-pieces, counter-attacking football and coming up against low-blocks. Liverpool can't cope with any of them. What we're seeing is a team in the Premier League that's not suited to the Premier League. Once you start seeing what Manchester United and Chelsea have done in the last couple of weeks, you start seeing that Liverpool could actually finish outside the Champions League positions. I really fear for them. Once you start fearing Champions League qualification for next season, that's when I think we've got a completely different proposition when we're talking about the manager's job. That, for me, is completely different. If we're talking about not winning the league or challenging for the league, that is a collective responsibility, and Liverpool don't win the league every year. Not making the Champions League from [being] champions, spending £450m and having the highest wage bill in the Premier League, which is normally the biggest determining factor over where you finish in the league, I think you've got serious questions to ask."

Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!

Carragher also feels that Liverpool need to bring in another defender after being hit by injuries to their backline. He added: "Liverpool have always had a policy of waiting for the guy they want. Not panicking. Liverpool are short at the back. If they had to pay a bit extra for someone they wanted in the summer, I would bring that forward. I'm not interested in Liverpool buying a player they're not fully convinced of. Besides that summer, Liverpool's track record in the transfer market over the last seven or eight years has been pretty good. It's not looking as good this summer. I'm still backing them to make the right decisions and the right decision is to buy a defender. If Virgil van Dijk got an injury that would write off the season. Maybe they've got something up their sleeve, but I don't want them to panic buy."

Liverpool will switch focus to the Champions League in midweek and a visit from Qarabag. After that, it's a visit from Newcastle in the Premier League as the Reds aim to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to Bournemouth last time out.