Arne Slot feels the heat as honeymoon period ends at Liverpool

Arne Slot's smooth transition into the role of Liverpool's manager came to a sudden halt with a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. The defeat has shattered any sense of calm surrounding his tenure and has highlighted underlying issues within the team.

His team have little time to lick their wounds with a trip to AC Milan to come on Sept 17 to open their return to the Champions League after a year away from Europe’s elite club competition.

Under Klopp, Liverpool’s prestige at the top of the European game was restored. The English giants reached three Champions League finals in five seasons between 2018 and 2022 and won the European Cup for the sixth time in the club’s history.

That is the legacy – and pressure – Slot inherits and the former Feyenoord boss has not been handed a kind draw by the new Champions League format.

Liverpool will face the two most successful sides in the competition’s history in Milan and Real Madrid.

Xabi Alonso, who had been the favourite to replace Klopp, will return to Anfield with German champions Bayer Leverkusen in November, while Slot goes back to the Netherlands to face Dutch title holders PSV Eindhoven.

The Reds also face more Italian, Spanish, German and French opposition in Bologna, Girona, Leipzig and Lille.

Yet Liverpool may relish that challenge and the opportunity to make amends, after struggling when Forest put 11 men behind the ball on Sept 14 and held out for their first win at Anfield in 55 years.

The home side enjoyed nearly 70 per cent possession but lacked the necessary spark to make it count.

“We lost the ball so many times in simple situations,” said a frustrated Slot. “We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three or four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough.”

The feeling of deflation for the Anfield faithful contrasted sharply with the elation that greeted a 3-0 win at Manchester United before the international break.

Even Klopp had struggled to master Old Trafford during his nearly nine years in charge and the early signs of Slot’s reign – before the loss to Forest – were positive.

Liverpool won their opening three Premier League games without conceding as the Dutch coach imposed more control and a bit more caution to the free-flowing brand of heavy-metal football that quickly won fans over under Klopp.