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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been staggeringly warned that the Anfield axe could fall far sooner than initially expected, and with one pundit naming both his ideal successor and identifying his biggest mistake this summer. It’s a grim time to be a Liverpool supporter right now after Wednesday’s Carabao Cup exit to Crystal Palace made it six defeats in seven games and five in a row in domestic competitions – the first time that has happened in 72 years. Despite spending a colossal £440m on new players this summer in the hope of improving their Premier League title-winning squad, Slot has somehow made the Reds significantly worse. As a result, the pressure has been piled on to the Dutchman, and talk of the sack has been growing louder in recent weeks off the back of their wretched run of form. Now seven points behind leaders Arsenal, the Reds rapidly need to find an uptick in their form pretty sharpish if they are to try and retain their crown and ease that building pressure on Slot. Now pundit Jamie O’Hara has explained why Slot might not even make it to Christmas at this rate, and a failure to win their next three games could see the situation become critical. “If he loses another three games, who says he gets to Christmas? Seriously?” O’Hara asked Sky Sports’ fan club. “Liverpool have got to win the league. That’s the job. “I think there’ll be massive question marks over him. “At the moment, he’s got a big couple of weeks coming up. And you know, if they could get Jurgen Klopp back, I think they’d have him back in a heartbeat.” DON’T MISS 🔴 Arne Slot caught in a lie as Liverpool boss flounders and two top sources reveal sack plans Arne Slot told Liverpool’s summer transfer policy failed him O’Hara was disgusted at the Liverpool side Slot put out on Wednesday night as Crystal Palace eased their way to a 3-0 win and a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. Now O’Hara has explained why Slot owes the supporters an apology. “”Liverpool’s bench on Wednesday night, he threw the towel in, he waved the white flag and said, I don’t want to be in this competition. “Fans from all over the country have gone up there, paid their money. It’s not cheap to go and watch football matches anymore. It’s a full house and you put a kids’ team out! It’s a bit disrespectful to fans, you know. “And look, if you play a young team and you’ve got the big boys on the bench, fine, give them a chance. Give them an opportunity, give them a run out 60 minutes, and then you get the big dogs on. Some of those players on the bench had squad numbers 96 and 97! He threw the towel in and that, to me, is disrespectful to Liverpool fans.” Asked again about Slot’s future, O’Hara reckons Slot made a big mistake trying to change too much too soon this summer. “That team says to me that he knows that he’s under huge pressure at the moment to get results in the Premier League and the Champions League. So he’s just binned the Carabao Cup. They were like lambs to the slaughter a bit. People say they have this unbelievable squad and have put this Galactico team together… “Yeah, but it’s a lot of players have left. So the squad is still a bit thin. It wasn’t massively overcrowded in the first place. It’s only just replaced like for like. “Why did he let all those players go? I don’t know. I wouldn’t have let all them players go. [Luis] Diaz, Harvey Elliot, they know what Liverpool’s about. They know the DNA. They know how to win games. They know what it’s about competing at the highest level, week in, week out. He’s let them go, and they look like they’re struggling, and new players that come in, they ain’t ready to play for Liverpool, some of them. “I think he put the young kids out there, really and truthfully, just to be like, I don’t want to be in this competition. I don’t fancy it. The bench was a disgrace. You know, like, when you look at the other teams that have been in the competition, Arsenal, Spurs, Newcastle, yeah, they made changes, but the benches were strong. “So if it wasn’t going your way, or you wanted to, you know, maybe get back in the game or make something happen, they had players there to come on and make a difference like Arsenal did with [Bukayo] Saka; he comes on and he scores.” GO DEEPER 🔴 What the future holds for each player in Liverpool’s bizarre XI against Palace What’s next for Slot and what do FSG think about sacking the manager? Despite all that, a report on Wednesday evening is adamant that Slot is not under any immediate danger of the sack and FSG are prepared to give the Dutchman time for his new signings to bed in and get used to the high-stakes pressure of playing for Liverpool. However, there is absolutely no getting away from the fact that Slot faces a critical week at Anfield and easily the most testing of his reign so far. Next up is a tricky Premier League encounter against Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday night, with Unai Emery’s side having won their last four games and showing they are a team on the rise after a tricky opening to the season. The games don’t get much easier, either, with a very testy match against Real Madrid in the Champions League coming up on Tuesday, before they travel to face Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, before a two-week break for the November internationals. The pressure could reach incredible new heights were the Reds to lose the next three games – a scenario which does not feel impossible right now – and with three more losses potentially taking that bleak run of form to eight defeats in nine games. Should that happen, would O’Hara’s warning come true?… Latest Liverpool news: Open Salah exit offer; shock Wirtz loan One of those new summer signings truly struggling to find their feet is Florian Wirtz. Signed for £116m from Bayer Leverkusen, Wirtz has only really had one truly good game for the Merseysiders so far, that coming against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. Off the back of his bleak run of form, Liverpool have sensationally been backed to loan the star out in January, and you could argue the club he’d join would be an upgrade. He might not be the only big name leaving, either, after a report claimed Mohamed Salah reportedly has an “open” £150m offer on the table and his suitors know they “don’t really need to” make an effort as he will join at some point down the line. Unfortunately, the bad news keeps on coming for Liverpool right now amid concerns that £125m British record signing Alexander Isak may now need to undergo surgery to truly get back to his best and overcome a persistent groin injury.
