Liverpool's Gamble: Carragher Questions Slot's Dismissal Over Alonso

Liverpool did not just sack a manager. They lit the fuse on a full-blown debate about the club’s direction.

Arne Slot, the man who delivered a Premier League title in his first season, is out after finishing fifth in his second. The decision itself is ruthless but not unheard of at the top level. The timing, though, is what has Anfield simmering.

Because Xabi Alonso was there. And Liverpool let him go.

Alonso Question Haunts Slot Exit

Slot’s dismissal came only weeks after Alonso agreed to take over at Chelsea, having left Real Madrid in January. For months, the Spaniard had been heavily linked with a romantic return to Anfield, a move that seemed to make footballing and emotional sense in equal measure.

Instead, Liverpool stuck with Slot. Then tore it up anyway.

That sequence has left supporters asking the obvious: if there was even a flicker of doubt about Slot’s long-term future, why not make the change when Alonso was free and waiting?

Now, with Andoni Iraola strongly tipped to take charge, the scrutiny has turned on Fenway Sports Group and sporting director Richard Hughes. The question is not just who comes next, but how the club arrived here.

Carragher: ‘I Would Have Changed Him for Xabi Alonso’

Jamie Carragher did not bother to sugarcoat his frustration. Speaking on The Overlap, the former Liverpool defender laid bare his confusion over the club’s decision-making.

"I would have changed him (Slot) for Xabi Alonso. As soon as he went to Chelsea, I was thinking that I would keep Slot," Carragher said, before spelling out exactly why Alonso had been his preferred option.

For Carragher, Alonso was not just a nostalgic choice. He was the standout candidate. A manager who had already shown he could elevate elite talent, notably Florian Wirtz, and who carried an “incredible playing CV” shaped by some of the game’s greatest coaches. His work at Bayer Leverkusen, his experience at Real Madrid – even if it “didn't go well” – all fed into a profile built for the pressure and glare that comes with the Liverpool job.

Carragher’s point cut through: if Liverpool were going to make a change, why not for Alonso when the stars briefly aligned?

Tactical Doubts Over Iraola Fit

The conversation now moves to Iraola, and here Carragher’s concerns deepen.

The Basque coach has built his reputation on a ferocious, high-pressing game. It is intense, physically demanding, and unforgiving for players who cannot live at that tempo. At Bournemouth he showed he could reshape a squad and survive the loss of key figures, but Liverpool is a different universe.

Carragher questioned whether the current Liverpool group is even built for that kind of football.

"If Liverpool chose Iraola over Alonso, it is very worrying for Liverpool," he said. He accepted that stylistic preferences – such as Alonso’s inclination towards a back three – could factor into the decision. But the core issue remained: does this Liverpool squad actually have the tools to play Iraola’s brand of relentless pressing without a major overhaul?

That is not a minor tactical tweak. It is an identity shift.

Rebuild on Every Front

Slot’s sacking does not arrive in isolation. It drops into the middle of what was already shaping up to be a turbulent summer.

Mohamed Salah has gone, leaving a gaping hole on the right wing and forcing the club into the market for a world-class replacement. Whoever walks into the manager’s office will not just be tasked with tightening up a defence or refreshing a midfield. They will have to reconstruct an attack that has lost its most reliable source of goals and threat.

The clear-out stretches behind the scenes as well. Slot’s exit brings with it the departures of assistants Sipke Hulshoff, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, and Ruben Peeters. A backroom team that had learned the rhythms of the club, the training ground, and the dressing room is gone in one sweep.

Anfield will not just be welcoming a new manager. It will be learning a new language on the training pitch.

Iraola and the Anfield Spotlight

To his credit, Iraola has shown he can ride out turbulence. At Bournemouth, he navigated the sales of important players, reshaped the side, and kept them competitive. That resilience is part of what attracts top clubs.

But the Anfield spotlight is unforgiving. Every selection, every substitution, every tactical wrinkle will be dissected by a global fanbase and a local support that has just watched the club pass on Xabi Alonso.

If Iraola is the man Liverpool have chosen over the former midfield maestro, he will not just be judged on results. He will be measured against the idea of what Alonso might have been.

That is the gamble Liverpool have taken. The question now is whether the hierarchy has picked a visionary for a new era, or created a storm that will define the next chapter on Merseyside.