Turns out there was life after Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
One season in charge, one Premier League title 鈥 it’s quite the start to his tenure at Anfield for Arne Slot.
And it’s quite the riposte to those who reckoned Liverpool would regress in the post-Klopp era.
Slot has played a clever game. He has always been respectful of the work done by Klopp in turning the Reds into the kind of European giant it was in the 1980s 鈥 indeed, Liverpool can be regarded as unlucky to run into the behemoth that is Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City over the last few years.
Slot didn’t rip up the Klopp playbook, either. He knew he didn’t need to, since Richard Hughes 鈥 Liverpool鈥檚 new sporting director who identified Slot as Klopp鈥檚 replacement 鈥 had said the Dutchman鈥檚 coaching philosophy and approach 鈥渓end really well with the kind of squad we have, the supporters and the football club as a whole.鈥
Instead, Slot oversaw just one outfield signing 鈥 Federico Chiesa, who has underwhelmed and barely played 鈥 and made only a minor tweak to a lineup pretty much molded by Klopp, installing Ryan Gravenberch as the first-choice defensive midfielder and playing Alexis Mac Allister in a slightly deeper role alongside him. He quickly drummed into his squad that he wanted more control and less Klopp-style chaos to the playing style.
Essentially, Liverpool wouldn’t lose the intensity and attacking verve it had under Klopp but would do so in a more disciplined way.
鈥淗ave all the ball and completely kill a team,鈥 was how Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones once described it.
Just look at the results.
The title has been clinched with the loss of just two matches and with four rounds to go in a campaign that saw Manchester City 鈥 the winner of the last four titles 鈥 finally fall from its unprecedented heights and Arsenal too inconsistent to be a challenger.
Liverpool is comfortably the highest scorer in the league so far 鈥 with 80 goals, 14 more than anyone else 鈥 and has the second-best defensive record behind Arsenal.
And Slot is the man who has put Liverpool back on its perch in English soccer, with a record-tying 20 league titles alongside Manchester United.
Here’s a closer look at how Slot became the fifth manager to win the Premier League in his first season in English soccer:
Making the big calls
Let’s salute some of Slot’s calls.
Gravenberch has been a revelation as the midfield anchorman, coming of age with his positioning skills, awareness and presence. For a player aged 22, he’s shown remarkable consistency in a role that wasn’t natural to a more attacking player.
Similarly, deploying Dominik Szoboszlai as the No. 10 in front of Gravenberch and Mac Allister has been a success, the Hungary captain’s pressing and work ethic presenting more opportunities to the likes of Salah.
Speaking of Salah, Liverpool’s star player seems to have thrived in Slot’s system, enjoying being the creative spark as much of the team’s scoring totem. He has delivered his best ever league campaign in terms of attacking numbers, with 28 goals and 18 assists. No wonder he has just .
Dealing with the contract sagas
Barely a week went by without Slot having to deal with a barrage of questions about the future of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who went into this season in the final year of their contracts.
He handled them well, always praising them, but sticking with his mantra of focusing on the team more than on any individual. The off-field uncertainty over the trio never trickled onto the pitch 鈥 they’ve played as well as ever, with .
Slot has kept his authority throughout, impressing with his answers in news conferences and his presence in the technical area. Only once has he lost his cool 鈥 after the final Merseyside derby at the soon-to-be-demolished Goodison Park when Everton scored a stoppage-time equalizer and Slot confronted the match officials, making some insulting comments.
鈥淭he emotions got the better of me and if I look back, I would love to do it differently,” he said.
Areas to improve
Slot will have some learnings after his first season in English soccer.
Liverpool has run out of steam in the latter part of a season which foundered in the space of a week when Liverpool lost in the final of the English League Cup to Newcastle and was then knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain. Its performances in the Premier League have taken a downturn, too, but the gap the Reds built up over second-placed Arsenal meant that made no difference.
Slot will have to learn to rotate his squad more and trust his backups like Harvey Elliott, Wataro Endo and Jarell Quansah to start more games. Was there any need to go full strength against last-place Southampton days before the last-16 matchup against PSG?
Slot also admitted to making a mistake in underestimating the FA Cup when fielding a weakened team against second-tier Plymouth in the fourth round 鈥 and losing. Expect him to go harder in that competition next season.
What’s to come
Slot is likely to put more of his own footprint on the squad now that he has a Premier League title in the bag and his feet under the table.
Liverpool is expected to be more active in the transfer market, with Van Dijk saying this month: 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board as a Liverpool-connected fan to do the right job.”
Replacing the team’s long-time full backs might be Slot’s biggest issue, with Alexander-Arnold widely expected to be leaving for Real Madrid and 31-year-old Andy Robertson regressing.
Slot might want to sign a new striker, too, with Darwin Nunez continuing to frustrate up front.
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