The best-case scenario for Arne Slot is that he starts next season under massive pressure from a fanbase rapidly losing faith in his style.To repeat: that’s the very best-case scenario. Because, no matter what happens in this summer transfer window, supporters will still be concerned that Slot has lost the ability to knit it all together.The sentiment at Anfield has dropped to a decade-long low and history suggests little can be done to change it. A section of season-ticket holders have not felt this frustrated since the final months of Brendan Rodgers’ tenure, when the mood around the club turned sour during the closing stages of the 2014-15 season. His tenure quickly unravelled further after a troubled start to the following campaign.It’s a sad state of affairs when the most joy some supporters have experienced in this calendar year was when Jurgen Klopp returned to the dugout for a Legends game. The 4-0 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League was also good, but few inside the club, if any, were confident of a repeat performance in the quarter-finals against PSG.Liverpool failed to beat Leeds United, Burnley, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Brentford at home in 2026 yet still squeezed over the line to qualify for the Champions League.The fact it was still mathematically possible to miss out on the final day of the season explains why frustration is rife. Many of the stream-watching online audience have been ‘Slot Out’ for some time. Once a hashtag takes hold, the countdown to hysteria usually follows.Liverpool have struggled under Arne Slot over the 2025-26 season (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)It’s not fully there yet. This is not like the situation at Newcastle United a few years ago, for example, when fans chanted “Steve Bruce, he’s got a big fat head”, before booing the man in charge during a lap of appreciation in May 2021. It’s not like at Aston Villa, either, where supporters chorused “Steven Gerrard, get out of our club” in his final game in charge in October 2022.What it does feel like, however, is a head coach coming towards the end of his time. Up until this point, owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have backed Slot and are prepared to maintain that support into next season.But what if it doesn’t get any better? How long do they stick by a man who is rapidly losing any lingering support in the stands?The atmosphere at some of the closing games of the 2025-26 campaign reflected the pressure surrounding the head coach, with supporters leaving early, boos audible around the stadium, frustration over substitutions and criticism intensifying. Most supporters parked their frustrations on Sunday in honour of Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, who were given an emotional send-off. Slot chose to stay out of the way, sitting alone when the players completed a lap of appreciation in order to allow all the focus to be on the departing heroes.Although direct comparisons are dangerous, there are similarities to how other clubs’ supporters have reacted in similar circumstances.When Jesse Marsch was struggling at Leeds United, those in the stands sang Marcelo Bielsa’s name because they could not detach themselves from the love they retained for their previous coach. When Erik ten Hag lost his way at Old Trafford, he quickly felt the wrath of supporters as the boos increased. The Manchester United faithful also booed the team off when they lost to ASEAN All-Stars in Malaysia under Ruben Amorim, a week after the end of a disastrous 2024-25 campaign.Yet Slot’s situation is so rare and nuanced that it makes it different from any other recent case.Even the example of how Sir Alex Ferguson started slowly at Manchester United before eventually becoming the most successful manager in the club’s history cannot be used as a comparison. Football 40 years ago was very different. Slot has also won a title, whereas Ferguson had to wait seven seasons before securing his first.Alex Ferguson was a man under pressure at Manchester United until he claimed his first silverware for the club in 1990 (Gary M Prior/Allsport)As reported by The Athletic, senior figures at Liverpool believe that Slot’s Premier League title win in his debut year and mitigating factors this time — including injuries, new players taking time to settle and the tragic death of the club’s Portugal international forward Diogo Jota in a car accident last summer — should dictate that the Dutchman is given more time.Until now, the reaction to poor results and performances has resulted in a mixture of boos and jeers, highlighting a clear level of dissatisfaction but not total chaos. There’s still scope to fix the problems; just a fading belief that doing so is possible.Perhaps that’s because there are few examples of managers who have turned it around from such a difficult position.Mikel Arteta is one stand-out who bucked the trend, having come through a testing period early in his time as Arsenal boss when, after winning the FA Cup in his first season, he then led the club to an eighth-place Premier League finish in the 2020-21 season – prompting calls for him to be sacked. A mitigating factor for Arteta that might have been on his side: that league campaign was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant games were played behind closed doors.Despite it all, the club’s hierarchy were convinced he remained the right man for the job. In September 2023, former sporting director Edu explained to journalist Joao Castelo-Branco why. “You have to analyse your squad and ask yourself why we are not getting positive results,” he said. “It’s the coach’s or the squad’s fault?“I presented to the directors that the squad that Mikel inherited wasn’t the best possible squad for him. It wasn’t his problem, but ours. We have a responsibility to help him and empower him to do the best work possible.”The turnaround since – as title-winners and Champions League finalists – has been impressive, even if plenty of patience was required. Slot certainly won’t get as long to put things right because the writing would appear to be already on the wall.Arsenal’s patience with Mikel Arteta has been rewarded with the 2026 Premier League title (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)It felt like that for Luis Enrique at Barcelona in the 2014-15 season when, after five months in the job, the Spaniard’s stint in charge appeared to be coming to an end. Following previous calls for his sacking after a string of disappointing results early into his spell, Barca lost to David Moyes’ Real Sociedad in January 2015 and there seemed no way back.Enrique left Lionel Messi on the bench and the Argentinian also sat out an open training session in front of supporters the next day in what appeared to be an act of protest. That same day sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked. Enrique’s assistant Carles Puyol walked just hours later.Somehow, though, Enrique survived and began to turn a corner. He changed Barca’s style, making them fitter and faster, en route to a famous treble with Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar leading the attack.If there’s any example for Slot to take belief from, it is that. But, aside from the occasional mini-revival elsewhere, the high-profile examples end there.At the start of the season, The Athletic highlighted the difficulty of a manager winning back-to-back titles in his first two seasons in England — something Slot aspired to achieve going into the 2025-26 campaign. As it turned out, he failed spectacularly.The Dutchman had hoped to emulate Jose Mourinho, who backed up his title triumph with Chelsea in 2005 with another in 2006. Since then, the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte have won the league at the first time of asking, only to suffer setbacks the following year. Slot can now count himself among them.Pellegrini was largely ushered out of Manchester City by Pep Guardiola’s availability after sabbatical. Both Ancelotti and Conte, however, saw the wheels come off in the league second time round and ended up discarded by then Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. The first lost his job within an hour of the final whistle of the 2010-11 campaign, when the London club finished second. Conte’s relationship with the board fractured spectacularly over the course of a fitful 2017-18 title defence and he departed under a cloud.Antonio Conte (left) shows the strain during the latter stages of the 2017-18 campaign (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)Season reviews will determine what happens next at Anfield and exactly what is needed to make 2026-27 more of a success. This is still a Liverpool team getting getting progressively worse, and that needs to be addressed over the summer.Staggeringly, Liverpool have won only 49 per cent of their games since March 1, 2025 — 34 victories across 70 games in all competitions, which represents dismally inconsistent form. Even that requires some context. To Slot’s huge credit, Liverpool had as good as wrapped up last season’s Premier League by the time that run started. It should be noted, too, that for all the troubles since, the 47-year-old has shown his qualities as a multiple title-winning coach across a short career at AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord and Liverpool.The one box he has not ticked yet is bouncing back from adversity.Getting the opportunity to do so in football is rare. There’s no such thing, for example, as a genuine reset, and suggesting “next season will be better” means very little to a set of supporters who will stew over the season’s inadequacies over the summer.Even then, with new centre-backs, a strong holding midfielder, options at right-back, fit-again forwards and a young winger as Salah’s replacement, can Slot find the magic formula again? If he does, it will arguably be as impressive as winning the title in his first season.Does Slot have a redemption story up his sleeve, starting with that best-case scenario? Stranger things have happened.