Published: 02:00, 1 November 2025 | Updated: 02:00, 1 November 2025

Arne Slot has been written off before.

Back in summer 2009, the manager of Sparta Rotterdam, Frans Adelaar, told reporters that Slot’s style had been ‘overtaken’ by younger, quicker midfielders.

The then 30-year-old, clinging on to a thinning head of hair and described by an analyst as Juffrouw Slot or ‘Little Miss Slot’ because of his physical shortcomings, was banished to Sparta’s reserves.

Slot was a former captain at Sparta, so this would be like Virgil van Dijk suddenly being told he was with the Under 21s next year.

The same reporters who had been taken aback by Adelaar’s comments sensed an opportunity for a headline and asked Slot for his reaction.

‘I am not going to be written off,’ he told them, defiantly. ‘I totally disagree with the manager. Coaches and the public have expressed doubts about me all through my 14-year career. But I am going to keep fighting.’

Arne Slot has come under pressure at Liverpool after a run of six defeats in seven matches

Back in his...