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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has acknowledged that last season's Premier League title win may have "postponed" the decline most supporters anticipated following the departure of Jürgen Klopp.
Expected to navigate a rebuilding season after stepping in for the iconic German, Slot surpassed all predictions with an impressive Premier League title run, but Liverpool have fallen sharply this campaign and Slot now finds himself fighting to keep his position under significant pressure.
"It is normal in football that you have cycles," Slot explained.
"The good thing when you have a cycle, and has also happened the opposite way, is that Mo [Salah] and Robbo [Andy Robertson] have announced they are leaving, but when they came in they worked with other players as well.
"I'm really happy that Mo and Robbo have worked with all of the signings we did last summer because they have been able to see what the club means to them and how hard they work.
"That is a normal process at successful clubs, or any club, that there is an end to a cycle. That's not something that is new to us. The great thing is that we maybe postponed that cycle with last season."
Overachieving Could Cost Slot His Job
Slot has faced considerable criticism this season, yet the Dutchman does raise a valid point.
When Slot succeeded Klopp at the close of the 2023–24 campaign, few anticipated Liverpool would be immediately competitive. Losing one of the club's most celebrated managers, combined with the appointment of an inexperienced Premier League boss, appeared destined to be a turbulent mix.
That proved not to be the case, and Slot's success in guiding the club to a Premier League title led many to assume the good times would continue indefinitely, especially since Liverpool actually performed better in Slot's first year than they had in Klopp's final season.
That level of performance was clearly unsustainable, and Slot is now working hard to demonstrate he deserves the opportunity to turn things around.
A key criticism directed at Slot is that the title success was built on the squad assembled by Klopp. This season, after investing nearly $600 million (£446 million) in new players to shape his own roster, results have deteriorated sharply.
The numbers do tell their own story in that respect, though the effects of time must also be considered. Mohamed Salah is now 33, Andy Robertson recently celebrated his 32nd birthday, and Virgil van Dijk will turn 35 this summer — concerns about an ageing core were well established long before Slot took the helm at Anfield.
A rebuild away from that generation was, as Slot suggests, always going to happen.