The carousel line doesn’t wash anymore

I’m over that whole “we don’t want a manager carousel” spiel. It’s a nice slogan, and it sounds sensible in the abstract, but it can turn into a comfort blanket when the football’s going nowhere.

To be clear, I’m not saying Liverpool should sack a manager every time there’s a rough patch. That’s not us, and it shouldn’t be. The point is we’re past a rough patch now. This has felt like a long stretch where the same flaws keep showing up and nothing really shifts.

Time was given, changes weren’t

Months back, plenty were already calling for the manager to go. I wasn’t there. I thought Arne Slot deserved time and a bit of grace, because a new manager always needs a proper run at it. My big thing was simple: if the tactics aren’t working, you adjust. You find a different way to win games, even if it’s not pretty for a while.

But when you look at the league form and the in-game performances since then, what’s actually moved forward? It’s still that sense of being stuck in neutral. Games drift. Patterns repeat. We have spells where we look like we might click into gear, and then it’s back to the same issues again.

Unbeaten runs can still feel like nothing

People can point at an unbeaten run and, on paper, it sounds like progress. The truth is you can be “unbeaten” and still look miles off it. If you’re not winning enough, if you’re dropping points in the matches you need to put away, it doesn’t lift you. It just keeps you hovering.

And that hovering is what’s doing my head in. The table becomes a mirror: you’re not building towards something, you’re just trying not to slide. When you start looking over your shoulder more than you look up the league, something’s gone badly wrong.

No man’s land is the worst place to be

This is where the “carousel” argument falls apart for me. If any Liverpool manager is carrying a run that dreadful, then the club has to at least face the hard question. Not because sacking is fun, or because change is always better. But because blind loyalty doesn’t fix shape, tempo, or decision-making in the final third.

The grim part is it now feels like no man’s land. If Slot should have gone earlier, that window feels like it’s passed and we’re left with uncertainty either way. Keep him and you’re asking for a clear turnaround that we’ve not really seen. Sack him and you’re admitting the season’s been mishandled and you’re rolling the dice midstream. That’s where we are, and it’s a horrible place for a club like Liverpool to sit.

Written by OliRed: 25 January 2026