Liverpool head coach Arne Slot is "100% convinced" that his side will look like a completely different team next season—even as the current campaign winds down with more questions than answers.
Despite a disappointing 2025-26 season that has seen the Reds regress in pressing, passing, finishing, defending, and fitness over the past 18 months, the club's upper management remains firmly behind Slot. And with reports that Chelsea are now pursuing Xabi Alonso, the path is clearing for Slot to stay put and reshape the squad this summer.
"Not this season," Slot said this week when asked if he believes skeptical fans will come around. "This season they have their opinion and it will not change. But if we can have the summer we are planning to, then I am 100% convinced we will be a different team next season than we are now. Different in terms of results, different in how things look."
That summer overhaul will be significant. Club legends Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, and possibly Alisson Becker are all expected to depart, with more exits likely to follow. A jaded Anfield fanbase—already feeling at odds with the club's hierarchy—will need to find a way to get excited again come pre-season.
The challenge, however, is that the current squad still lacks a clear tactical identity. Pressing patterns that once defined Liverpool's relentless style have eroded since January 2025. Passing patterns have become predictable, the defense remains fragile, and fitness—long the club's calling card—has become a glaring weakness, with the team regularly running out of gas by the hour mark in two-game weeks.
Right now, Liverpool's identity is slow, passive, tired, and pensive—hardly the stuff that gets the Anfield crowd roaring. And yet, the manager, players, and front office continue to call for fan support while the product on the pitch gives supporters little to cheer about.
There's a growing gap in understanding between the stands and the dressing room. But if Slot's summer plans come together, next season could finally bridge that divide.