The Reds are six points off the top four ahead of Wednesday's (11.02.26) Premier League game at Sunderland and the coach knows that failure to secure a place in Europe's top competition will be damaging for the club's finances.
Slot said: "If we don’t have Champions League football, it’s definitely not been an acceptable season.
"When I arrived here we could only sign Federico Chiesa and that was after a Europa League season. That does have an enormous impact on the way this club is run, that is clear. We are completely aware."
However, Slot suggested that failure to reach the Champions League might not cost him his job - as his predecessor Jurgen Klopp missed out on the top four during the 2022-23 season and was given the chance to rebuild the team.
The Dutch manager said: "That is a difficult question for me to answer because I don’t decide on my future. The only thing I do know is that it happened before, and recently, and it didn’t affect the future of that manager. But that doesn’t guarantee anything of course.
"Maybe somewhere else it is not only about results, but mainly. And at some clubs they also look at the progress the players make, the progress the team makes, the circumstances are sometimes taken into account. That is not at all clubs but I think I am working at a club that does look at those things. As it has shown that in the past when the club did not qualify for the Champions League."
Liverpool's defence of their Premier League title has been disappointing and Slot says that the season has been the hardest of his 10 years in management.
He said: "By a mile. Because all the other seasons I’ve managed there were only positives. I don’t think I’d ever lost two games in a row, so it’s an exception this season for me as it is for the players. The players are not used to losing a lot or having a lot of draws. I’m not used to that as well. So, yes, this season has been more challenging for me but you also take nice things out of it – that might sound weird – because I also look at how much improvement we are making."
