On January 26, 2024, the residents of Merseyside opened the social networks and a shock attacked them. The kind of feelings whose intensity is equally affected by the importance of the thing that happened and the magnitude of the surprise in it. No one really saw it coming – Jurgen Klopp announced: “At the end of the season I will leave my role as Liverpool coach.”
To speak and elaborate in praise of Klopp and his time at the Red Club will only dwarf the achievement of the one who took a great club, that found itself lost in the glory of the past, and brought it back to the forefront of world football with such a characteristic feature and with what every fan expects to see from his team – spirit.
What’s the wonder then, that when the news came that the person who would be replaced was Arena Slott, although it wasn’t the same sharp shock, there is no doubt that in the north-west of England they had to digest another surprise. Beyond the successes in the Netherlands with Feyenoord, the Dutchman would not have been considered a name at the top of the list of wanted coaches on the continent and when the rival from Manchester has been suffering from balding Dutch syndrome for some time, there is no doubt that some eyebrows were raised.
Liverpool fans may not have been entirely convinced about the appointment, but there was one person who was very happy with the choice, Klopp. The few times we have seen such a legendary manager sing in honor of his replacement, and more so in his own farewell in front of a full Anfield, it was important for him to convey the most essential thing about what Liverpool means to Slott, that spirit. In Merseyside they knew, if Klopp is in favor, we are in favor.
So far, Slot’s opening is impressive. Although the Reds suffered their first and surprising loss 1:0 to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, but before that, three games – three red victories against zero, is this a coincidence? If you ask the club management, the opposite is true. Many like to underestimate the use of data in football, ‘at the end of the day football is a simple game and this is the romance in it’, in Liverpool they managed to unite the two, to preserve the character thanks to the data.
Why did the club choose the slot? Liverpool’s head of research, Will Spearman, also holds a PhD in physics from Harvard University (no less) and was one of the people who contributed to the discovery of the “God Particle”, so it was clear that exact science would be used to find the group’s ‘next God’.
Although it is clear that his style of play is not the same as Klopp’s, the new Herdes manager showed the most important thing in Holland: while the opponents are based on ball control as an essential element, he knows how to direct the game to a high, aggressive and efficient pressure that gives the quality of his players the advantage , even if sometimes you have to make adaptations and not necessarily hold the ball non-stop.
The same ‘heavy metal’ style of the German ex, Slot took in his own direction, but the numbers show – he was simply the best suited to preserve what is not measured in numbers. Thanks to the positive chaos he knew how to create for his quality players at Feyenoord, he brought the club its first championship in six years in 2022/23 and second overall since 1999.
Just look at Luis Diaz’s goal in the 0:2 victory over Brentford – Liverpool didn’t necessarily know how to take the reins in the match, the defenders stood firm and then, boom. As in Klopp’s heyday, it took a total of 13 seconds for Diego Jota to storm out with his fellow Colombian to burst in from a corner kick in their box at all and score. Was there a change on the lines at all? She didn’t just look like Liverpool, she felt like Liverpool.
Slot himself admitted when he arrived: “I don’t need to change the playing style completely. There are a lot of similar things between me and Jürgen, I think the players will notice that, but of course I’m not a copy of him”, it’s enough to see him swinging Agdol towards the Kop calmly in the face of the German’s punching frenzy to understand this. Nevertheless, it was clear that the Dutchman’s challenge would be to preserve and perfect and not build something from scratch and invent a new red wheel even though it itself is “not a copy”.
The same approach was taken in the summer as well, despite the criticisms about the passivity Slot insisted “to wait and study his squad in depth”. The team entered the transfer cycle at a very late stage and with the exception of Federico Caesa, who arrived as a finishing touch to the squad and a “market opportunity” at a bargain price of 12 million euros, the players remain the same players and the goal is the same – to succeed as before and only polish.
The most obvious example so far is Ryan Harawanbarch, Slott’s compatriot arrived at Anfield already last year, but struggled to leave a real mark. While Merseyside continued to shout about bringing in a new ‘6’, the new coach addressed the midfielder in their common mother tongue and seemed to conjure up the same sparks the midfielder showed at Ajax in his youth.
How noticeable is that ‘polishing’ of Harawanbarach? Just watch his exemplary presentation in the center of the field against Manchester United when on the other side for the sake of proportion is the one who used to be the best full back in the world and today looks like a cheap Brazilian imitation of the Dutchman in his bad days.
More hidden than visible in Liverpool’s upcoming season, that’s clear, after all we’re only in September and with the loss to Forest it’s clear that there’s more work to do. There is no doubt that a few victories at the start of the season is nothing to crown a successor to Klopp, the road to get there is still long. Despite this, we all remember that Klopp also managed to conquer the Champions League even before he did it in the league and this baptism of fire will begin this evening Slote with the same desire to leave a mark.
How symbolic then that it will happen against the rival who gave Liverpool the biggest European night in the club’s history in 2005, Slott arrives to meet Liverpool’s history, wanting to start a new history of his own at 22:00 against Milan.
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