After this weekend the Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool will be over, and an official announcement will then be expected to announce the arrival of Arne Slot.
The Dutch coach has garnered a reputation for playing bright, attacking football and that could be said to be ostensibly why the Reds targeted him in the first place.
Klopp has enjoyed a fine period of success with the Anfield based outfit by playing the style of football that he classed as ‘heavy metal football,’ or Gegenpressing to give it it’s proper name.
If Liverpool are attempting to have a ‘Klopp lite’ in the dugout thanks to their hiring of Slot, whilst understandable, it’s not necessarily the best move.
Slot will suffer from being the first after Klopp
Former Reds striker, Stan Collymore, believes that the Dutchman is on a hiding to nothing in any event.
“Arne Slot can speak English in the dressing room – big tick. A coach in a Dutch league that’s far from vintage – big red cross,” he said in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside.
“Slot’s perspective will be to look at things and go ‘if I do half as well and keep these in the top four…’ and his ambition will likely be to win a League Cup or FA Cup and that’s it. Then in season two, he’ll look for Liverpool to be more competitive.
“I think Liverpool Football Club have taken a pragmatic approach and decided that they’ll never get anyone like Jurgen Klopp and gone ‘let’s get somebody in that is at least competent and confident enough to be able to maintain the status quo and keep the club competitive.’
“Slot really believes he can do the job or else he wouldn’t say yes, but just like when Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, David Moyes came in and everybody thought he’d do well. Moyes was very capable too but quickly realised that he couldn’t quite hit those high notes. I don’t think Slot will necessarily hit those high notes either. Why? Because it’s difficult following a Sir Alex, a Frank Sinatra, a Michael Jackson, a Muhammad Ali…
“He’s going to be known in Liverpool history as the man that took over from Jurgen Klopp, a big, powerful and strong character and persona who had the personality, attachment and connection to the scousers that afforded him that ability to go the extra mile. It transcended just being the manager of the football club.
“For me, honestly, Slot could go on and consolidate what Liverpool have, then once he has his feet properly under the table, he’ll need Michael Edwards to go and find two or three more signings like the Mane’s and the Salah’s of this world. Players in a decent price range but that won’t trouble the bank balance.
“If that happens, he’s got a chance, but I just think that sometimes in football there are characters who are very difficult to follow.”
The comparison to the Sir Alex/David Moyes situation is a fair one.
It’s often forgotten that Moyes was highly rated at the time he took over at Man United, and was believed to be the personal request of the outgoing manager.
Moyes’ Everton sides were renowned for playing good football, but that impression subsequently changed after the United debacle, and he has struggled to shake off that experience.
For Slot the world is effectively his oyster and whilst he will be given time, he still needs to hit the ground running.
He has to have the strength of personality to deal with matters arising head on, and to prove to the Liverpool squad that he has what it takes to be a worthy successor to a man whose memory will live long at the club.
It could go one of two ways for Liverpool, and they’ll be hoping that fortune once again favours the brave.
The man hasn’t even took over, yet people want to right him off, pathetic.
Slot is his own man, not a Klopp clone