Simon Jordan has sympathised with Arne Slot and he has pointed over where the root of Liverpool’s troubles truly lie.
A lot of fingers have been pointed at Arne Slot this season for Liverpool’s shaky performances. Most recently, his team suffered three defeats in a row in all competitions before the October international break.
Simons Jordan has taken pity on Slot, whom he believes is facing a more difficult challenge than the one he overcame last season.
Liverpool wrapped up the Premier League title by 10 whole points last season, but Jordan believes the competition have upped their games for the new campaign.
He told talkSPORT: “Well I don’t want to be ridiculous to question the capability of the man, but he inherited a team last year and whilst there were subtle changes, there is also an argument to be said and I’m not going to like to hear this, that the rest of the league was relatively mediocre at times.
“The Man Citys of the world fell off a cliff. Arsenal didn’t push the envelope the way you thought we did, so Liverpool sort of sauntered into winning the league and now he’s got a team for a variety of different reasons, one of them through tragedy and another through a circumstance that a player wanted to leave, that he’s now having to recreate”…
Liverpool may have splashed their cash over the summer, but Jordan still feels Slot has not been handed an easy task by having to rebuild his squad.
The Dutchman had access to players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Jarell Qunasah who have all moved on and the new signings are still finding their feet at the club.
He continued: “Put aside how much money he’s spending, I’ve not been on that game about how much money he’s spent because I think that’s an unfair comparison. But we are now seeing the Arne Slot team be created in front of our eyes because he’s having to reassemble it.
“So we’re now going to judge Arne Slot by a different set of standards rather than the fortuitous environment he got to walk into, which was a brilliant dressing room full of brilliant players that were ready to play.
“Now it’s slightly different and we’re not seeing this Liverpool side anywhere near the levels that we saw them last year.”
The former Crystal Palace Chairman returned to the point that Liverpool’s rivals have strengthened over the summer.
Arsenal and Manchester City are two teams in particular who Jordan believes could cause the Reds problems.
He added: “We are seeing Manchester City being slightly better, we are seeing a re-engaged and mature Erling Haaland being very visibly on his game.
“We are seeing Arsenal now albeit that Liverpool beat them and the criticism that Arteta took from that game wasn’t being bold enough, but we are seeing an Arsenal side with an embarrassment of riches that can change games by having a bench that’s as strong as anything in the Premier League.”
The former Crystal Palace chairman believes Slot’s greatest success was the beginning of his own downfall. The Liverpool boss may have won the Premier League in his first season at the club, but this has set expectations he may struggle to meet.
“So it’s a real challenging landscape for Slot,” Jordan said, “because unfortunately for him, we are all guilty of this, he set himself such a high standard, he’s going to be judged by it.”
To counteract Jordan’s point, every team in the Premier League has suffered at least one defeat after seven fixtures. Even Liverpool’s main competitors Arsenal have already fallen to Slot’s own team.
The competition may be tough, but if Slot can get the most out of his new signings, the league is surely in Liverpool’s hands.
