While there are question marks over Arne Slot’s credentials as he prepares to take over from Jürgen Klopp, the need for fresh energy cannot be more apparent.
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Whoever fills Jürgen Klopp’s shoes will face an almost-impossible job, with the charismatic German embodying the Reds on and off the pitch throughout his nine-year tenure.
Liverpool have become Klopp’s club. He was uniquely qualified for the position back in 2015, and the role has been moulded in his image in the years since. A man who represents not only the values of Liverpool FC, but also Liverpool as a city and a people.
Put simply, Klopp gets what it means to be part of the club – and he has embraced that.
Not only that, but he is of course one of the finest managers in world football. A purveyor of a relentless, attractive style of play that has endeared him to supporters and neutrals alike. It is not lip service when Pep Guardiola describes him as “the best rival I ever had in my life.”
It has been remarked that whoever replaces Klopp will need cajones.
They would need not only the skills, but also the stature to lead a club the size and expectation of Liverpool – but as has been made patently clear since Klopp’s resignation became public, the key attribute required is energy.
There should be no surprise, then, that those considered for the role have all been young, hungry managers with more to prove.
Xabi Alonso was arguably the perfect candidate, but he has since committed himself to Bayer Leverkusen. That has left Liverpool to reassess the situation at boardroom level, with a number of options across the Premier League and beyond mentioned as possible successors.
The collective will of supporters and journalists alike positioned Sporting CP manager Rúben Amorim as the most viable alternative – a must-hire, even – but the news that he instead held talks with West Ham laid clear the reality facing Liverpool.
With the likes of Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi, Wolves’ Gary O’Neil and Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola all linked with the job, there was a growing sense that the perfect appointment is not currently out there, and that Liverpool were erring closer to the territory they found themselves in when Brendan Rodgers was hired from Swansea in 2012.
That is, that the candidates on Liverpool’s shortlist seemed more suited to becoming the next Brighton manager, rather than leading the Reds out at Anfield.
Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, who is now poised to take over at the end of the season, would arguably fit that description; the 45-year-old has similar credentials to Amorim, as a title-winner outside of Europe’s top five leagues, but there are understandable concerns over whether he can step up.
Those within Liverpool’s boardroom clearly believe he is capable, with Slot impressing both in the data and in interviews with club hierarchy – which will include Fenway Sport Group’s CEO of football Michael Edwards.
His success with Feyenoord – winning the Eredivisie in his second season in charge and, as they settle into second place to earn a Champions League spot, lifting the KNVB Cup this time around – underpins that.
Slot appears capable of outperforming his resources, with Feyenoord a club whose record signing remains centre-back Dávid Hancko, who joined from Sparta Prague in 2022 for just €8.3 million. He has formed a cohesive unit with a defined style of play; intense, attractive, attacking football but perhaps with more control and conservatism than Klopp’s heavy metal.
But while he did reach the Europa Conference League final in 2022 – losing 1-0 to AS Roma – there remain question marks over how transferrable his skills will be to life at Liverpool, largely due to his entire career being spent in the Netherlands.
It is safe to label it a calculated risk by Edwards, who is supported by FSG president Mike Gordon, chief executive Billy Hogan, director of research Williams Spearman, sporting director Richard Hughes and assistant sporting director David Woodfine in a data-led recruitment process.
Whether or not Slot has the immediate gravitas to step into Klopp’s shoes, the events of the past month or so have shown that Liverpool is a club in need of a hard reset.
Any manager who holds the same job for almost a decade may struggle with the sense that his work is becoming stale, and losses to Manchester United, Atalanta, Crystal Palace and Everton highlight the ongoing flaws within the Liverpool squad.
Where before Klopp’s aura could drag the players through difficult times, the acceptance that he no longer has the fight, or even the willpower, to continue to do so has led to a desperate, complacent end to the campaign.
Off the pitch, Liverpool appear to be lacking ideas; on it, they are clearly lacking a cutting edge, with a misfiring attack one of their biggest concerns in this recent run of awful form.
Perhaps a summer of change will serve as the boost Liverpool need, allowing this season to be the building block it was initially viewed as before pre-season began – the belief in a title challenge, let alone a quadruple, only truly picked up steam upon the news of Klopp’s plan to leave.
A new manager, with new ideas and new methods, could be exactly what the Reds are asking for – it is the positive to cling to amid a poor stretch, when even finishing in the top four is not yet guaranteed.
(Cover Image from IMAGO)
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