As Liverpool supporters sang Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds in an attempt to reassure themselves that “every little thing is gonna be alright,” the reality inside Anfield felt very different.
This did not feel like the end of a successful season.
It felt like the end of an era.
And perhaps more worrying, the beginning of a deeply uncertain future.
Watching Mo Salah and Andy Robertson say goodbye to Anfield was emotional enough on its own.
These are players who helped transform Liverpool into one of Europe’s elite again under Jürgen Klopp.
But the mood around the stadium carried something darker too:
Fear.
Fear that Liverpool are drifting.
Fear that the club has lost its identity.
And fear that Arne Slot may not be the man capable of stopping that decline.
Slot’s post-match behaviour only intensified those concerns.
While the players walked around Anfield applauding supporters after a miserable and deeply disappointing season, Slot sat alone on the bench looking isolated and disconnected from the entire occasion.
Perhaps it was unintentional.
Perhaps he wanted the moment to belong fully to Salah and Robertson.
But perception matters at Liverpool.
And for many supporters, it once again showed a worrying lack of emotional understanding about the football club he now manages.
At Liverpool, connection matters.
Togetherness matters.
Walking through difficult moments together matters.
That lap of appreciation was not simply about celebrating a season.
It was about acknowledging supporters who endured one of the club’s most disappointing campaigns in years.
Instead, Slot appeared emotionally detached from it all.
And this season absolutely has been a failure.
There is no point pretending otherwise.
Liverpool finished with 60 points.
That total would not even have secured European football in some recent Premier League seasons.
The team failed to win any of their final four league games.
And across the final 14 matches in all competitions, Liverpool managed just four victories.
For a club with Liverpool’s standards, that is nowhere near acceptable.
What frustrates supporters most is that many of the season’s problems felt self-inflicted.
Slot repeatedly referenced injuries as the defining issue of the campaign.
Yet this is also the same manager who openly admitted earlier in the season that he preferred working with a smaller squad.
You cannot simultaneously choose to work with fewer players while then repeatedly complaining about fatigue, injuries and lack of depth.
Especially when:
- Federico Chiesa was barely used
- Wataru Endo was marginalised
- Young talents like Trey Nyoni and Kieran Morrison barely featured
Supporters simply do not understand those decisions.
Then there is the football itself.
Too often Liverpool looked passive, predictable and emotionally flat.
Supporters can accept difficult periods if they see fight, intensity and identity.
But many fans no longer recognise this team emotionally.
And Salah himself seemed to understand that disconnect far more clearly than the manager.
His comments after the match summed up Liverpool perfectly:
“They don’t care that much about the result as long as you sweat and give your blood here, they’ll love you forever.”
That sentence captures Liverpool Football Club better than anything Slot has said all season.
Now Liverpool enter another summer of uncertainty.
Potentially huge departures.
Questions over leadership.
Contract concerns.
Another rebuild.
And growing pressure surrounding a manager who already feels increasingly disconnected from large sections of the fanbase.
Supporters desperately want to believe things will improve.
But Slot’s isolated image sitting alone on the Anfield bench while the stadium emotionally said goodbye to two club legends perfectly captured why so many fans remain deeply worried about where Liverpool are heading next.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
here nears to go because if he stays, we are going down the Rodner’s route this most not happen for this wonderful club