Why Liverpool want Arne Slot – Is Jürgen Klopp’s mooted replacement the next Erik ten Hag?

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Insight from Eredivisie experts 

Liverpool’s title challenge effectively ended after a devastating 2-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday night. Sean Dyche’s men inflicted a near-fatal blow to their arch rivals’ dream of lifting the Premier League title in Jürgen Klopp’s final season at Anfield. The German manager announced his decision to step down in January to recharge his batteries and take a one-year sabbatical from football.

Liverpool were still strongly in contention to win four trophies when Klopp made his announcement but it now looks incredibly likely that the League Cup will be their only silverware this season. With Liverpool’s title prospects hanging by a thread, attention has switched to Klopp’s replacement at Anfield. Xabi Alonso was their first choice but the Spaniard committed his future to Bayer Leverkusen for another season and Arne Slot has now emerged as the favourite. It’s understood that talks have commenced between the Feyenoord manager’s representatives and Liverpool’s hierarchy. We’ve taken a closer look at Slot’s managerial history and style with fantastic insight from Transfermarkt’s Eredivisie experts.

The next Erik ten Hag? Will Arne Slot be a good replacement for Jürgen Klopp?

The reports of Slot being Liverpool’s preferred candidate has split opinion amongst supporters who originally had their hearts set on Alonso returning to Anfield. Fittingly, Slot ended Ajax’s dominance in the Eredivisie by winning the title with Feyenoord last season after Erik ten Hag departed for Manchester United. Feyenoord, however, endured a difficult start to this season and PSV can secure the title this evening with a win over Heerenveen. It’s difficult to avoid comparisons between Slot and Ten Hag given the jobs they undertook in the Eredivisie and Kevin Lux, Transfermarkt’s Area Manager for the Netherlands, admits similarities exist.

“It is always hard to say if a manager from the Eredivisie is a good fit in the Premier League, same as for players,” Lux said. “Look at Erik ten Hag, who was brilliant at Ajax, but doesn’t seem to get United on track again. Liverpool is an even harder task in my opinion, because the new manager has to succeed a club icon in Klopp. In many ways, Slot could be called the new Ten Hag, because he made a Dutch team into a team that did well in Europe. He made the Conference League final two years ago and played well in the Europa League a year later. Just like Ten Hag at Ajax, Slot had to replace his most important players every year and every year, he succeeded in building a competitive team very quickly. It was bad luck that he had an impossible to beat PSV in the Eredivisie this year, otherwise, he would have been champions again this year.”

While Ten Hag’s debut season in England was ultimately successful after leading Man United to their first silverware in six years and a third-place finish, it’s been a difficult second campaign. United are languishing in sixth place and their tactical plan has been severely criticised. Replacing Klopp is widely viewed as an unenviable task given the transformation he’s overseen at Liverpool but Lux believes Slot will bring “fun” to Anfield – if he’s afforded time. “I’m curious to see how he does when he has to perform in the best league in the world at one of the best clubs in the world,” Lux added. “When he started at Feyenoord, there was no pressure whatsoever, so when he managed to get them back in contention, he was the instant hero in Rotterdam. That was the reason he got away with a relatively slow start this season. Liverpool probably doesn’t give him that time and luxury. But when he gets the time he needs to build his own team, I am confident Liverpool will have a lot of fun with Slot.”

How good has Arne Slot been in the Eredivisie?

Now in only his fifth season as a senior head coach, 44-year-old Slot has taken football in the Netherlands by storm and has quickly established himself as one of the most promising coaches in all of European football. Following youth and first team coaching roles at PEC Zwolle and Cambuur, Slot was hired by AZ Alkmaar as the club’s assistant coach in 2017 and then went on to step up to the main job in 2019. And in no time at all, the Bergentheim-born tactician got to work on turning the Dutch club around. After finishing fourth the previous year, Slot took the club to second place, missing out on the top spot by little more than goal difference in a campaign that was cut short due to the COVID pandemic.

And before long Feyenoord had come calling for the young manager. Tasked with replacing Dick Advocaat and building a squad that could improve on being the best of the rest in Dutch football, Slot hit the ground running immediately and guided Feyenoord to a third-place finish in his first season before winning the title in his second season with a second-place finish likely this season. “Arne Slot embodies the new generation of Dutch managers,” notes Kevin Lux, Transfermarkt’s content manager in the Netherlands. “Together with Erik ten Hag, he has shown to be able to transform underdogs into contenders, both at AZ and now Feyenoord. He knows how to give his teams a tactical advantage and players he works with show incredible improvement.”

What kind of football do Arne Slot’s teams play?

There’s little doubt that Slot’s success in Dutch football is clear for all to see on paper, but what kind of football do his teams actually play? “One of the key components is that all of his teams are extremely fit,” says Lux, when asked about the Slot style of football. “Slot lets his team play in an organised, attacking way. There is a lot of movement on the midfield and on the wings, which makes it hard to defend. The key component is, however, their level of fitness.”