Arne Slot’s ‘unpopular opinion’ on last season’s Premier League title win is absolute nonsense, and the Liverpool boss is putting massive pressure on himself with his comments
James Findlater Content Editor
04:00, 28 Jan 2026
Liverpool boss Arne Slot made some strange comments about his own side’s title win(Image: Getty Images)
Arne Slot has developed a reputation for being honest in his interviews since joining Liverpool, and perhaps at times a little too honest.
He has raised eyebrows on a few occasions with some blunt thoughts on matters around his club, even going so far as to suggest some of his own players aren’t good enough to get into his side. His comments on Tuesday though were, quite frankly, baffling.
You can forgive Slot if he is feeling the heat a little at the moment. His side is flailing in the Premier League, less than a year after being crowned champions, and only a few months after embarking on a lavish spending spree in the transfer window. It’s no wonder then that he felt the need to add a disclaimer before touching upon last season’s triumph.
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“This is not going to be a popular opinion what I’m going to tell you now, but maybe the reason why we won the league last season is that we had to play Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16,” Slot said during his press conference ahead of facing Qarabag in the Champions League.
“As you know, they beat us, and we had every time a week to prepare for the next game. Maybe that has helped us as well, maybe if we had to double up that programme, which Arsenal had, and they dropped a few points in that period of time, that has helped us in winning the league.”
Well, there’s a reason why you think that’s an unpopular opinion Arne. To put it in his own blunt manner, the Liverpool boss is talking absolute nonsense.
Liverpool was already 15 points ahead of Arsenal by the time it was knocked out of the Champions League last season(Image: Getty Images)
The Reds won the league because they didn’t have the Champions League to deal with? It’s the sort of awful take you’d expect from a rival fan in the worst corners of social media, not Liverpool’s own boss.
First of all, let’s deal in facts. Liverpool was 15 points ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League by the time it was knocked out by PSG. Even taking into account that the Gunners narrowed that gap to 12 points a few days later, with just nine games remaining in the season, it is an almighty stretch to suggest that they might have gone on to win the title if roles had been reversed in Europe.
Why on earth would Slot willingly choose to play down his own side’s title win, and by the same token, seemingly ignore the months of hard work he and his players had put in before that PSG game? By the way, Liverpool had gone through nine Champions League games, five Carabao Cup encounters and two FA Cup ties during that time, and still only managed to lose a single game in the league.
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It can only be a desperate attempt to justify poor form in one competition by suggesting it will have benefits in another. If that is the case, Slot is putting A LOT of pressure on himself.
This season’s title defense has been awful, and made even worse by the summer’s spending. If Liverpool can’t even get into the top four after that, it is a huge failing on Slot’s part.
A Champions League win would help mask that, but we’re not even past the first stage yet. Even then, it would be a bold man who backs this Liverpool team to go all the way to the final, especially after being humiliated at home by PSV earlier in the season.
Slot is absolutely wrong to downplay last season’s title. Doing so has just turned the heat up on him immensely, and if he doesn’t deliver now, he can’t have any complaints if he loses whatever support he is clinging on to at the moment.