Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp's demands for next job as Arne Slot's team labelled a 'mess'

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In a season punctuated with lows, Liverpool's campaign plunged to new depths on Saturday. Arne Slot's side succumbed to their tenth Premier League defeat this year, losing 2-1 away to Brighton.

The defending champions were abject as the Seagulls outrun, out-thought and out-fought the Reds . The good vibes surrounding Anfield following the 4-0 hammering of Galatasaray in the Champions League midweek have been swiftly stripped away.

While the Reds come alive in Europe, they are labouring in the Premier League week after week, to little avail, with fans trapped in a carousel of disappointment and anti-climax. Newcastle icon Alan Shearer has backed the growing concern, believing Slot's side are a 'mess' after their top-four ambitions endured another body blow.

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Elsewhere in today's Liverpool news, with Slot's job security looking more frail by the day, ex-Reds hero Jurgen Klopp has given his demands to make a spectacular return.

Slot's side had to contend with a quick turnaround for the Brighton clash following their Champions League encounter on Wednesday night. The lack of recuperation time was unfortunately coupled with an early injury to Hugo Ekitike in the game, but Shearer believes the club's on-pitch problems run much deeper.

Speaking on Match of the Day, Shearer thinks Liverpool have issues across their team. “I thought they were outfought and they were bullied by Brighton, particularly defensively,” he said.

“They went into it again with no width and when [Florian] Wirtz got the ball he had no options to his right or left, he had to go straight down the middle. There was nothing really available for him.”

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He also targeted the centre-back pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate. “[Danny] Welbeck bullied the two centre-backs, they were all over the place,” he added.

“I thought they were really poor and all over the place, they really were, they were a mess. There’s no doubt that the situation with Ekitike upset them in terms of the rhythm and they had to change a few bits.

"But there were three different right-backs today, clearly that doesn’t help, but there was no pressure in midfield, no threat up front and defensively the spaces in between were glaring.”

With pressure mounting on Slot, there is a natural clamour for Klopp to return to the club. The German won the Premier League and Champions League at Anfield, where he turned the Reds into one of the most formidable teams in Europe.

Should Klopp return to management at any point, he has previously outlined, as a "football romantic", that he would be looking for a club with football at its heart. This was a key reason he initially joined Liverpool in October 2015.

Some fans will be hoping that Klopp could be convinced that swooping in to save his former club from their current struggles is the most romantic of all football stories. Speaking in 2018 about how Liverpool convinced him to make the move to England, the 58-year-old said: "I love the history.

"I really am a football romantic. I knew I probably can help. They maybe really need me, in this time. I know what I'm good at. When they told me about the problems they had I thought, 'OK, yeah, I am probably the really right manager for that club'.

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"I had talks with other clubs and they didn't sound like a football club. It sounded like marketing, image, you need to sign this, you need to sign that. And I thought, 'Wow, that's not the game I love.'"

Since leaving Anfield, Klopp has also confirmed he would not manage another club in England. However, he didn't altogether rule out a return to the Reds at some point in the future.

Speaking in 2024, he added: "What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 per cent. That's not possible. My love for this club, my respect for the people, is too big.

"I couldn't. I couldn't for a second think about it. There's no chance. This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel at home here. There's no chance to do that."

Asked again last year if he would ever return to Liverpool, Klopp said: "I said I will never coach a different team in England so that means, if [I did return], then it's Liverpool. So, yeah, theoretically it is possible."

Klopp will be making a long-awaited return to the Anfield dugout on March 28. However, he will only be managing a charity game against Borussia Dortmund to raise funds for the LFC Foundation.

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