Arne Slot Faces Crucial Test at Anfield Amid Mohamed Salah's Farewell
Arne Slot will walk out at Anfield on Sunday to the same anthem that once sent him on his way. The song hasn’t changed. Everything else has.
When Feyenoord supporters roared out “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at De Kuip at the end of the 2023/24 season, it was a farewell soaked in gratitude and promise. Slot, already confirmed as Jurgen Klopp’s successor, circled the pitch, applauded from every stand, an Eredivisie champion turned Premier League hopeful. He left Rotterdam with a title, a second-place finish, and a fanbase that stood for him to the very last step.
Twelve months later, the setting is Anfield, the stakes are lower, and the mood is more complicated.
From whirlwind to grind
Slot’s first year in England was the dream script. He walked into the most scrutinised job of his career and made it look easy, guiding Liverpool to just their second Premier League crown. The transition from Klopp, the emotional heartbeat of the club, looked almost unnervingly smooth. The Dutchman’s tactical clarity, his touchline authority, his calm in the storm – all of it fed into a title charge that ended with champagne on the pitch and songs deep into the night.
Last season’s final home game was a street party in a stadium. Slot grabbed the microphone, belted out Klopp’s song, and was drenched in champagne as Anfield bounced. It felt like a baton had not just been passed, but already firmly gripped.
This year, no one is ordering the fireworks.
Liverpool will close out the campaign against Brentford in fifth place, with no silverware to soften the blow. Slot has lived through the full force of what English football calls “second season syndrome” – that brutal mix of expectation, fatigue and tactical growing pains that turns champions into targets.
The Autumn run told the story in a single grim stretch: six defeats in seven games, pressure rising with every misstep. At points, it wasn’t just the title defence that looked in danger. His position did too.
The anthem that follows him
What will feel familiar to Slot on Sunday is the sound. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” has trailed him across borders. Feyenoord, like Liverpool, claim it as their anthem, and by the time he first stood in front of the Kop, he already knew every line.
At De Kuip, that song framed his goodbye. Feyenoord fans stood, applauded and sang as he saluted them, a coach leaving with their respect intact despite missing out on a second straight title and finishing second. The bond held even when the trophy didn’t.
Anfield now faces a similar test.
This has been a gruelling season. Legs have looked heavy, ideas at times have seemed blunt, and the standard set by that first campaign has hung over every dropped point. Yet the message from inside the club is unambiguous: the hierarchy are backing Slot. There is no appetite for a reset. No appetite for panic.
The Kop knows what that means. The manager is staying. The question is how he is received.
A different kind of send-off
Sunday is not only about Slot. It is widely expected to be Mohamed Salah’s final game for Liverpool, and when a legend of that stature makes his last walk towards the Kop, the emotional temperature rises on its own.
Salah has made his feelings on Slot clear and has never hidden his respect. As one of the defining figures of the club’s modern era, he is more than entitled to his view. The “Egyptian King” will surely get the send-off his goals, his moments and his medals demand.
But as Salah takes his bow, another story runs alongside it. The story of a manager who has already scaled the mountain once, stumbled the second time, and now stands at a crossroads.
Slot arrived at Anfield as a title winner from Feyenoord and left Rotterdam revered. That status did not come from one season alone. It came from resilience, from building again after setbacks, from convincing a demanding crowd that his way was worth believing in.
Liverpool is no different. The second season has bitten hard, but the platform remains. A fifth-place finish and a trophyless year sting at a club that measures itself in honours, not near-misses. Yet the belief that Slot can grow into the role the way he did at De Kuip has not evaporated inside the corridors of power.
The Kop’s role now is clear. It has to find a way to hold two truths at once: acknowledge the disappointment, and still back the man tasked with fixing it.
On Sunday, as the anthem rolls around Anfield once again, two farewells may be in the air – one to a goalscoring icon, another to the idea that Slot’s first title was a one-off. Salah’s story with Liverpool is almost written. Slot’s, for all the bruises of this season, still has chapters left.
The question is simple: when the song finishes and next season begins, will Anfield sing for him the way De Kuip once did?
