It is decided. Liverpool have been looking for a replacement for coach Jürgen Klopp since at least the end of January. Choosing the right candidate after a successful coach who leaves the squad in partial rebuilding was not an easy task. The choice of the club’s sports management ultimately fell on Feyenoord coach Arne Slot, who has an even harder job ahead of him than the entire management combined.
Klopp has restored Liverpool’s reputation as a club to be reckoned with in all competitions. In nine years at the helm, he won eight trophies, including the English title and victory in the prestigious Champions League. In addition, the fans have been waiting thirty long years for the home title. He thus confirmed the reputation of a quality coach, with which he came to the city on the River Mersey. Arne Slot will also come with a similar reputation after the season.
There are many similarities with Klopp
Football fans, who only focus on the most watched leagues in the world, may have registered Arne Slot’s name for the first time. Unlike Klopp, he does not have such a reputation. While the German coach arrived as a two-time Bundesliga champion with Dortmund, who also led him to the Champions League final, Slot has so far collected trophies “only” in the Netherlands and will have to cope with a certain jump in quality when moving to the Premier League. you would be hard-pressed to find differences between the two coaches.
Sloto’s playing career is comparable to Klopp’s – a solid player with an ordinary career. The 45-year-old Dutchman spent the first part of his career in Zwolle, where he played as an attacking midfielder. He was promoted to the Eredivisie with his first club in 2002 and earned a move to NAC Breda. He played there for five years before moving to Sparta Rotterdam and finally ending his career back at Zwolle, with whom he once again experienced promotion to the Dutch top flight.
So he didn’t make a big dent in the world during his playing career. Former teammates perceived him as a calm, thoughtful person who did not succumb to emotions during matches. His playing strengths were technique and insight, but he lacked athleticism and better physical fitness. In the final years of his career, he was more like a playing coach, so it was no surprise that immediately after the end of his career in 2013, he started coaching youth in Zwolle.
A year later, he became an assistant to Henk de Jong and then to Marcel Keizer in Cambuur. In October 2016, he was selected as interim coach, but his results were satisfactory enough that he was officially given the position of head coach after the middle of the season. Cambuur moved from 14th place to third and narrowly missed progressing through the playoffs. He made an even bigger surprise in the cup, where he knocked out Ajax with the second division team and reached the semi-finals.
These were already signs that another coaching star might be born in the Netherlands. But in the following seasons, she did not shine on the Cambuur bench, but in Alkmaar. Slot came to AZ as an assistant to John van der Brom, whom he replaced as head coach from the 2019/2020 season. He played attractive attacking football with the team and was able to win against stronger opponents such as PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord or Ajax. However, the season did not recognize the champion due to the global pandemic. Alkmaar were in second place at the time, just a score behind first-placed Ajax.
Just look at the type of football Arne Slot had AZ Alkmaar playing…
— BEN (@SMXLFC) April 23, 2024
In the end, Slot in Alkmaar did not see the end of at least one season. His achievements caught the attention of Feyenoord, who opened negotiations with him in the 2020/2021 season. In December, he was fired from AZ for this and only ten days later he was introduced to the public as the new coach of the Rotterdam team for the upcoming season.
This decision was a salvation for Feyenoord. Slot arrived at a team that finished fifth in the table, had no money for reinforcements and was absorbing an embarrassing showing in the Europa League group stage, in which they finished third behind Dinamo Zagreb and Austria’s Wolfsberger. In addition, the squad lacked functional game elements and lacked a natural leader after the departure of captain Berghuis to Ajax.
But everything changed under the new coach. Sloto’s emphasis on developing individual skills helped the performance of the players he carefully selected for the lineup. In the very first season, Feyenoord advanced to the final of the Conference League. Although it was not enough for AS Rome and it was 3rd place in the league, the change in mentality and overall performance was noticeable.
The development of Orkun Kökçü is a prime example of how Slot can enhance the strong qualities of players. The Turkish midfielder was considered a great talent from his start in the Feyenoord first team, but he failed to show enough on the big stage. It was only under Sloto’s leadership that Kökçü turned into the team’s biggest support and was one of the main architects of the title that Feyenoord won after a six-year wait. His development also helped the club’s coffers, as Kökçü moved to Benfica for €25 million after the championship season.
Arne Slot & Erik Ten Hag’s Eredivisie statspic.twitter.com/VyMRDMoNrr
—(@whrlpooll) April 25, 2024
Feyenoord also managed to sell Aursnes (13 million) to the same club during Slot’s tenure. The club also made big money on Senesi, Malacio and Sinisterra, but all these players left the club before the championship season, which makes the subsequent title even more impressive. Slot integrated the new reinforcements into the squad so ideally that within a few weeks a strong, united team was created, which had no competition in Dutch football in the 2022/2023 season.
In the ongoing season, Feyenoord won the Dutch Cup and can achieve even more points in the league than last season, but the title will most likely elude them. Second place behind this year’s sovereign PSV, however, still means promotion to the Champions League and at least another financial shift for the club. In addition, more and more players are making their way to the Dutch national team under Slot. Among those who would show up at the Euros in Germany are: Mats Wieffer, Quinten Timber or Lutsharel Geertruida.
Can a fresh wind wake up good old Liverpool?
When Jürgen Klopp announced his intention to leave in the middle of a well-started season, it came as a shock to many fans. A squad decimated by injuries defeated one opponent after another and all signs were that the port city was in for another memorable season. During its dramatic course, many may have forgotten about Klopp’s departure, but as the end approaches, it is clear that the German coach’s era is coming to a logical end.
So Arne Slot will not be taking over a team in similar trouble to Feyenoord in the summer of 2021, but he will have to manage comparisons with his highly successful predecessor. He cannot avoid this because he practices a very similar style of play. Liverpool have rarely played in a formation other than 4-3-3 in recent years, and that is a favorite of their future manager. However, the formation is not the only common element of both coaches.
Arne Slot led Feyenoord to the league title (©AFP)
Another game indicator typical of Slot’s teams is attacking football on the wings. In his line-up, he likes fast goal-scoring wings supported by creative central midfielders who aren’t afraid to go into tough tackles and technical defenders. In fact, in Feyenoord, the complete eleven on the field is involved in the passing and construction of the game. This is a feature that Liverpool also presents itself with, which is why the bet on Sloto seems logical. The player squad quite clearly meets his requirements. Of course, there are holes in it that the club will want to remove during the transfer window, but the team has a lot of potential and could benefit from a change in the coaching position.
Personal work with players as individuals will also be important. It has already been mentioned that Slot has helped a number of its clients take their gaming skills to the next level through well-chosen training. According to the testimony of Feyenoord members, his strength is also his overall work with people. He leaves a number of competences to his implementation team, in which he has great confidence, and if he gains it from the players as well, he will have won. Three of his compatriots play in Liverpool, with Virgil van Dijk being the captain, which can be a great advantage until the beginning of the coaching engagement.
Liverpool have already started looking at centre backs for the summer transfer window as one of the priority positions to cover.
Internal talks are taking place about options and list to be discussed with Arne Slot in the next weeks. pic.twitter.com/OPhW1pPtb4
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 29, 2024
Jürgen Klopp is known for his perfectionism, which did not always sit well with all of his charges, and Arne Slot is a similar case. He most often shows his attention to detail by examining a number of small details in the game of his own team, as well as in the game of other teams. He knows most of his opponents perfectly, and in the event of an unfavorable development of the match, he is able to react and eliminate the opponent’s strongest weapons.
One of the main issues that Slot will have to deal with, and one that will very likely determine his future, will be Mohamed Salah’s situation. The Egyptian winger has been Liverpool’s biggest attacking threat for years, and if he stays in the team, he will continue to count on that role. However, in his game, Slot is used to the fact that the goals are taken care of especially by a thoroughbred striker, which Liverpool does not have in its lineup at the moment.
It is an indisputable fact that Arne Slot is facing the biggest professional test of his career. To step onto the bench after such a successful era is a great honor requiring considerable personal courage. His results at Feyenoord show that he has the prerequisites for success. However, Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world and the pressure on the position of its coach is enormous. However, the playing style and composition of the squad should work in favor of the Dutch coach, who has not yet needed much time to adapt anywhere. Whether the environment of the world’s best league will suit him will be seen in a few months.
