Replacing a great manager is never easy, but Slot didn’t get that memo at Liverpool
We can say that he has integrated perfectly.
Arne Slot clearly did not get the message that taking over as coach at a big club is an almost impossible task.
Take David Moyes, for example, who replaced Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Moyes stayed for 10 months.
Or Unai Emery after replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Emery lasted an uncomfortable 18 months.
It’s still early days, but Slot has barely made a misstep since then. succeeding Jürgen Klopp Klopp was appointed Liverpool manager after spending nearly nine years in the popular German’s dugout. Klopp has formed such a bond with the port city and its football-loving residents that he has been compared to Bill Shankly, the club’s most legendary manager.
Perhaps that’s because, at the moment, Slot’s Liverpool don’t look much different from Klopp’s side.
Two Premier League games. Two victoriesTwo blank sheets.
There was even a convincing win over Manchester United in a pre-season game in the US, which is never a bad thing when it comes to rallying Reds fans.
Of course, there are even bigger challenges ahead. Starting with Sunday, when Liverpool face United for real, this time in the league at Old Trafford, in what is historically the biggest game in English football between the country’s two most successful teams.
While United opted to retain manager Erik ten Hag despite a dismal eighth-place finish last season, Liverpool’s hand was forced by Klopp’s decision to resign after a tenure that included a Premier League and Champions League title.
Slot was seen as a natural successor due to his playing style which, although less intense and stifling, is still very attacking and energetic like Klopp’s.
Indeed, Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s new sporting director who identified Slot as Klopp’s replacement, said in the summer that the Dutchman’s coaching philosophy and approach “suits really well to the type of team we have, the fans and the football club as a whole”.
Which is why, much to the frustration of some Liverpool fans, the club have found it necessary to sign just one player so far in the first transfer window of the new era – and even that was a goalkeeper, Georgian international Giorgi Mamardashviliwho has been sent back on loan to the team he was bought from. It could be two days before the transfer window closes on Friday, with Liverpool having has agreed to sign Italian winger Federico Chiesa of Juventus.
In short, Slot believes it is difficult to improve on what he has and will be content to make adjustments here and there to put his own stamp on the squad as he attempts to challenge Manchester City and Arsenal, the two best teams of the last two years, for the Premier League title.
Take this stat from Sunday’s 2-0 win at Brentford: Liverpool completed 92% of their passes, which Premier League statistics provider Opta says is the team’s highest rate ever (since 2003-04) in a Premier League match.
This is in line with a comment made in pre-season by Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones, who said the aim now is to “have all the ball and completely kill a team”.
At first, it seems like there is less chaos and more control in Slot’s team.
But if you look at the goals scored against Brentford, you realise that they still bear the imprint of the Klopp era. There was the quick counter-attack, launched after clearing a Brentford corner, finished by Luis Diaz, and Mohamed Salah’s strike after the ball had been won high up the pitch by intense pressing.
At the moment the results are coming because the same players are doing the same things as under Klopp.
In that sense, Slot is playing smart and not trying to change too quickly, something Moyes and Emery perhaps did poorly when they led new eras in other English football superpowers.
Indeed, 11 years after Ferguson’s retirement, United are still trying to rediscover their identity, with Ten Hag their fifth permanent manager since then (plus three caretaker coaches).
But not everything is rosy for Slot.
There remains the thorny issue of his three best players – Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold – whose contracts all end after this season. Alexander-Arnold sparked excitement on social media with his reaction to being substituted early against Brentford, while Salah, 32, told Sky Sports on Thursday: “I don’t want to think about next year or the future. Let’s enjoy last year and we’ll see.”
Slot has yet to find a solution to his only problem with the team, namely the base of his midfield. An attempt to buy Spanish international Martin Zubimendi Real Sociedad’s failed move this month and he used Ryan Gravenberch, a midfielder who might be better in attack, as the deepest of three central midfielders.
Otherwise, Slot has been charming in press conferences – much like Klopp – and, tellingly, has made it his mantra to be worthy of praise for the team as a whole rather than focusing on any one individual.
The most important thing is that his team won games.
And no game is more important than the one against Manchester United. The fact that he has only been at Liverpool for a few months will not prevent Slot from knowing that.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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