The leaving of the legendary coach, Jurgen Klopp, hit many fans and football lovers. As some of you may recall, Klopp announced his departure earlier this year. One of the best coaches in the modern history of football decided to say goodbye to Liverpool after more than eight and a half years.
While most fans are in shock, the show must go on. So, there were rumours about who would actually come to the coaching throne in this club. With so many potential candidates, my guess for the next Liverpool coach wasn’t really that much precise.
Lots of Speculations and Potential Coaches of Liverpool
Speaking of the legendary coaches, the Special One, i.e., Jose Mourinho, has been jobless for quite some time. Still, he used to coach some of the biggest Liverpool rivals. This further means that fans, as well as the headquarters wouldn’t really accept the Portuguese to sit on their bench.
The much more realistic rumours had Xabi Alonso come to Anfield. However, the Bundesliga 2023/24 season title winner politely refused this offer. Jurgen Klopp’s assistant, Pep Lijnders, also refused this position.
Even more, some other Liverpool coaches, like John Achterberg, announced that they would leave the club this summer. With so many options and so few responses, the Reds had to find another way.
Arne Slot’s Singing
During the whole saga of Klopp’s resignation and the new Liverpool coach coming, the Reds have done some underground work. They used to negotiate with the now ex-Feyenoord coach, Arne Slot. The Dutch and Liverpool made an agreement in late May, and Slot took over shortly after.
Slot spent the majority of his playing career in the Netherlands. His coaching style is not very different from that of Dutch football in general. He mostly uses the 4-3-3 or the 4-2-3-1 formation. Playing with one attacker may seem rigid at first, but it’s actually the complete opposite.
What’s really interesting here is that some experts did compare him to Klopp even before. I have seen descriptions such as “explosive attacking football” many times before for both of them.
Another thing here is that Slot also focuses a lot on ball possession. Klopp used to say many times that his team always put a lot of pressure on opponents to regain possession.
This is how the Dutch became one of the coaches of Liverpool. The key similarities made the Reds’ officials put their trust in Slot. While I all know that Klopp will always remain part of Liverpool’s history and that his contribution will be immeasurable, I also hope that Slot will keep the Reds’ spirit fighting and going on.
Being one of the strongest and most popular clubs in England, and maybe in the whole world, Liverpool will also receive much power from its enormous fanbase. On the other hand, only time will tell us about how and if the Dutch will keep glory at Anfield.
