18/03/2026

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | MAR 18, 2026

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Slot’s one sack condition Reds’ boss responds to Anfield boos after Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw by Spurs L IVERPOOL BOSS Arne Slot finds himself under mounting pressure once more after he and his underperforming squad were booed off the pitch following a disappoint won the league like they have. They’ve been in a fight the last two or three years as well, new players come in.”

DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI believes Liverpool are “running out of time” in their bid to secure Champions League qualification after yet again dropping points late in a match. The Hungary captain said he understood why many fans left Anfield early – as some did even before Richarlison scored in the 90th minute to snatch a 1-1 draw for struggling Tottenham. Reigning Premier League champions Liverpool missed a chance to move ahead of Aston Villa into fourth. They did gain one place and one point over Chelsea but conceding a goal in the 90th minute or later for the eighth time this season proved costly. “It’s a good question. If I knew the answer I would be the first one to go to the team and say it,” said Szoboszlai when asked why Liverpool continue to drop late points. “A couple of weeks ago we had a talk between each other saying ‘Guys we don’t have such a lot of time to do this right so we have to wake up and start to go in a way that we want to play Champions League next season’,”added the Hungary captain, whose first half freekick gave Liverpool the lead against Spurs. “It’s a little bit boring when I say this but we still need to find a solution because we are running out of time.” He added: “I don’t say they have no right to leave the stadium, they can leave if they want. “We need them and they should know this. We are one less without them. “It should be normal that in hard times we stick together more because that’s what we need, we need each other. “We want to make them happy, it’s not that we do it on purpose. Last year it was enjoyable to watch all the games but this year maybe it’s not that enjoyable, for sure, I can imagine. “I don’t think it helps us also that after 80 minutes people start to go home, it doesn’t help us at all. Stick with us.” – AFP Szoboszlai warns time against Reds

Tottenham’s penalty box. Ngumoha was given a start ahead of the likes of Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike, but was then taken off when Slot decided to make a triple substi tution just after the hour mark, with Ekitke, Curtis Jones and Salah coming on for Jeremie Frimpong, Ngumoha and Florian Wirtz. Pennant baffled Jermaine Pennant criticised Slot’s deci sions during the draw, particularly his sub stitutions. The former winger posted on X : “Someone please help me, help me understand. “Help me understand why 1. (Hugo) Ekitike doesn’t start, 2. (he) takes Rio off leave, (Cody) Gakpo on, and 3. (He) takes (Jeremie) Frimpong off and then leaves Szoboszlai at RB..” In response to a fan, he added: “But if we (can see it), and I’m guessing most of the fans would agree, how can the man in charge not see this. There has to be s*** going on behind the scenes that we have no clue about, cos this is blasphemy.” Slot sack latest Former Arsenal star Paul

The former England midfielder added: “Again, they’re playing for Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world. It’s taken them time to handle it, and they’re top-quality players, but the club’s just a huge football club. He will have to get in the top four, I would have thought, otherwise he might be (the next) Tottenham manager.”

ing 1-1 draw with Tottenham. The Dutchman secured the Premier League title in his maiden campaign after succeeding the iconic Jurgen Klopp. However, his second season has proved dismal thus far, with his costly assembled side – which was rebuilt following expenditure exceeding £400 mil lion (RM2b) in the summer – now languishing in fifth, after another wretched display against strug gling Spurs. A 90th-minute leveller from ex-Everton forward Richarlison negated Dominik Szoboszlai’s early freekick at Anfield. Slot now approaches tomorrow’s vital Champions League return fixture at home to Galatasaray (4am Malaysian time), trailing 1-0 from the opening leg, aware his side must prevail to rescue their campaign and possibly his position. Here’s all the latest developments from Anfield: Slot responds to boos The Liverpool head coach has addressed the jeers from home fans at the final whistle on Monday. He said: “I think it’s understandable for fans to be frustrated because it happened already so many times that they’ve seen the home team not picking up the points that they’re expecting to, us conced ing goals in the last minute. “Now it’s up to us to bring that frustration to Wednesday and come up with a big performance. Because that we are all frustrated, that’s completely clear. “And it’s now up to me and the players to take that frustration into Wednesday evening and show the fans the performance and the results they deserve.” Praise for Rio Ngumoha Slot lavished praise on teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha following his outstanding display on his first Premier League start, despite controversially substituting the 17-year-old forward. Liverpool struggled to score from open play, but Ngumoha remained a constant threat. During his 64 minutes on the pitch, the former Chelsea pros pect successfully completed all seven of his drib bles and recorded seven touches inside

Speaking on Sky Sports , Merson claimed: “If he (Slot) won the FA Cup, but didn’t finish in Champions League positions it wouldn’t make any difference at all. I think Liverpool have got to get in the Champions League with the (financial) fair play rule.

Express Newspapers

Merson suggests Slot could be facing the sack if he fails to secure Champions League qualification. “The more you get into the

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. – AFPPIC

Champions League, the better quality player you can bring in. I think they need to get a centre

half and they’ll be right back up there again next year. “They’ve just been off it this year, it’s been weird really, and it is hard when you’ve

Blues ‘consider sacking Rosenior’ despite recent arrival CHELSEA’S hierarchy are reportedly considering sacking Liam Rosenior, despite the Englishman only taking over from Enzo Maresca in January. The Blues are battling for a place in next season’s Champions League, though suffered a blow in their ambi tion after a 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle on Sunday. for stability for the first time since the consortium led by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali took over. The pressure is mounting at Chelsea and the next few weeks are considered decisive for the future of the project. that Chelsea need to cut out such costly mistakes. “Yeah, there’s a tactical issue,” he admitted.“We press in a different way to most teams. It’s a new way of pressing. We don’t step on the press and we don’t cover in a position that we should have done. “Mistakes happen. They had noth

Wolves fightback frustrates Brentford WOLVES staged an impressive fightback from two goals down against Brentford as the Premier League’s bottom club rescued a 2-2 draw thanks to Tolu Arokodare’s late equaliser yesterday. won the game,” Edwards said. “It shows the fight, the courage, the quality, the spirit that’s in the group. “Even though we’re in this position, it actually feels united together.” It was a painful result for seventh

Rob Edwards’ side trailed to goals from Michael Kayode and Igor Thiago at the Gtech Community Stadium. But Adam Armstrong got one back just before half-time and Nigeria striker Arokodare snatched Wolves’ leveller in the closing stages. Wolves are unbeaten in their last three league games after following their shock wins over Aston Villa and Liverpool with this spirited display. They remain almost certain to be relegated, sitting 12 points from safety with only seven games left. But if Wolves do slip into the Championship, they can take heart from their refusal to go down with a whimper. “It’s hard to say when you’ve been 2-0 down but I felt we could have

There is no change “set in stone” and despite these doubts, Rosenior remains focused on his immediate objectives with Chelsea, leading them to Champions League football. Rosenior led Chelsea to seven wins out of his first nine games in charge, but back-to-back defeats to Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle have highlighted issues in west London. The Blues could not break Eddie Howe’s side after conceding in the first half, when poor defending allowed Joe Willock to race in on goal and square the ball for a simple Anthony Gordon tap-in. After the match, Rosenior claimed a “tactical issue” was the reason behind their lapse at the back and

placed Brentford, who blew the chance to bolster their unexpected bid to qualify for Europe. Keith Andrews’ men are three points behind sixth-placed Chelsea and four adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool after failing to secure a win that would have catapulted them into contention for a Champions League place. “When you’re talking about us in the same breath as Chelsea, that’s obviously pretty good considering there’s only eight games left,” Andrews said. “But the reality is we could have produced more tonight. We need to be honest with that and look at ourselves.” – AFP

ing. They had nothing in the game and we gave them a goal. We talk about the press. I think the press was the reason Newcastle had to kick long balls back to us and we con trolled the game. “But in that moment, we make a mistake and it feels like at the moment every mistake we’re making is ending up in the back of our net and we need to make sure we stop those mistakes.” Rosenior added: “It was a really difficult day, a frustrating day, because we didn’t get the result that we want. But I still think there’s a con sistency in our performances.” – Express Newspapers

They currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, two points off fourth-placed Aston Villa, with just eight games remaining. Although fi\nishing fifth may be enough to reach the Champions League, Chelsea are in danger of missing out completely, which would be both a sporting and financial dis appointment considering the levels of investment under Clearlake. Sky Sports Switzerland claim that some influential figures within that hierarchy believe that Rosenior may not be in charge next season. There are concerns inside the club about his ability to lead the project long term, despite Chelsea’s desire