Slot Needs Answers, Not One-Off Nights

It’s hard to argue with the basic point: if Arne Slot went and won the Champions League, you’d struggle to justify not keeping him. That sort of trophy changes the mood overnight. But being honest, it doesn’t feel like we’re a side you’d back to go and do that right now, not with the way the same vulnerabilities keep popping up.

Even when results have looked better in Europe, there are still those spells where we look a bit too open, a bit too easy to hurt. And over two legs, when teams get a proper look at you and start targeting the soft spots, those league issues don’t just disappear. If anything, they become the story.

A familiar “stick with him” trap

This is where the comparison with Di Matteo starts to make sense. You can win something big and still be sat there months later asking the same questions about the football, the consistency and the direction. One trophy can buy time, but it can’t fix the underlying shape of the side if it isn’t right.

From the outside looking in, Slot has struggled to land on a system that properly suits the players he’s got. The man-management side hasn’t looked great either, at least from what supporters can see. To be fair, every coach wants certain profiles and the squad never arrives perfectly packaged. But it’s hard not to notice the lack of opportunities for the younger lads too, with only Rio really getting any sort of mention in that space.

Same picture, different week

The frustration is that too many matches feel like variations of the same performance. Same patterns, same problems, and not enough visible adjustment when it isn’t working. That’s why relying on singular games for hope feels a bit like clinging on, rather than building anything sturdy.

The Gakpo example sums it up. He’s taken plenty of criticism this season and he hasn’t been immune from it. But if you’re going to pick him, you’ve got to give him a framework that actually leans into what he does well. When he cuts inside, where are the movements? Where’s the lad peeling off to the back post for the whipped cross, the bounce option on the edge, the runner in behind to drag a centre-half and open the shot? You see it now and then, but not consistently enough. At times it feels like hope more than expectation in the final third.

Why Alonso appeals to people

There’s also a bit of harshness in dismissing Alonso outright. Whatever shape he’d choose, what attracts people is the idea of principles and structure off the ball: pressing high, winning it back quickly, forcing mistakes. That’s been the missing piece too often.

No appointment is ever a guarantee, just look around the league and you’ll see that. But the reason plenty are leaning towards change is simple: since that loss to Man City, it’s been hard to spot the signs that things are genuinely turning for the better.

Written by SCRED: 27 January 2026