Slot is no Klopp - and that's why he's proved to be perfect for Liverpool (2025)

Arne Slot has huge shoes to fill when he stepped into the role of Liverpool manager in the summer, but Liverpool's title victory shows he's been a remarkable success

After the win over West Ham at Anfield earlier this month - sealed by a dramatic late header from Virgil van Dijk - Arne Slot approached the Kop and, for a moment, threatened to go full Jurgen on them.

He stopped short of thumping his heart but there was a spot of fist-clenching going on. And there will be plenty of more of that sort of stuff as the title celebrations get stretched out until the end of the Premier League season.

But while the emotion of managing a club such as Liverpool inevitably gets to everyone, Slot is no Klopp, and the club and team has been none the worse for that.

Understandably, it seems there is not one Liverpool player who has even a vaguely negative word to say about Klopp and you would struggle to come up with a reason why any of them possibly would.

Over almost ten seasons, Klopp put himself into Anfield managerial folklore. But it is also fair to say that, by accident or by design or by sheer force of personality, a lot of the reporting of Liverpool’s achievements in Klopp’s time was centred on the manager.

Fair enough, he was brilliant. But Slot’s more measured, more reserved approach has ensured that the players have taken centre-stage. The spotlight on Mohamed Salah’s brilliance and Virgil van Dijk’s imperious leadership has been stronger.

Slot is not short of passion and emotion and his collection of yellow cards shows that he can get angry. Not quite Klopp-style angry but irrationally angry all the same - just look at him in the aftermath of the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. But it seems to take Slot a matter of post-match minutes to regain a level head. That is something that must impress his players immensely.

Throughout the season, Slot has dealt adroitly with the contract situations of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. Essentially, he pretty much ignored the contract talk, but he always came across as a manager who had a plan no matter who signed and who didn’t.

The one time Slot has perhaps been a little tetchy has been when people suggest the 2024-25 edition of the Premier League has not been a great one. That is understandable. Don’t forget, there is still a chance that English clubs will win each of the three European club competitions.

Liverpool’s dominance has been down to their excellence, not to the deficiencies of others. And it is hard to overstate the size of Slot’s achievement.

He is only the fifth person to win the Premier League in his first season of management in English football, the other four being Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Manuel Pellegrini. Three of those, of course, benefited from the mighty financial backing of Roman Abramovich.

Only four managers did it in the pre-Premier League era, a couple of Slot’s predecessors, Kenny Dalglish and Joe Fagan, amongst them. In other words, it is a very special feat, one which Klopp himself could not manage. In fact, the German’s one Premier League title did not come until the fifth year of his tenure.

To be fair, though, Klopp was not left the same sort of squad that he left to Slot. To his credit, Klopp left a squad that was re-energised by new midfield arrivals in particular, and was very much fit for purpose.

But by taking it from a third-placed squad to champions, Slot has still defied expectations and the sorrow over Klopp’s departure seems like a distant memory. The king has gone, long live the king.

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