 "Who is Arne Slot, the front-runner to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and what are his managing tactics?")
An era will come to an end when Jurgen Klopp leaves as Liverpool manager at the end of the season. Liverpool, who have won just the Carabao Cup so far this season, are still in contention for the Premier League title. The Reds were expected to make the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League but lost to Italian outfit Atalanta in the two-legged quarter-final tie (1-3 on aggregate).
That leaves with Klopp potentially winning only the Carabao Cup in his final season at Anfield, whereas his team faces tough competition from Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League.
While Klopp continues his quest for his second Premier League title with Liverpool, the hunt for the club’s next manager is well and truly underway.
Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, Ruben Amorim of Sporting Lisbon and Wolves manager Gary O’ Neil had been linked with Liverpool, but Dutch manager Arne Slot has now emerged as the possible candidate to replace Klopp.
Who is Arne Slot ?
Born on 17 September, 1978 in Bergentheim in Netherlands, Slot played as an attacker and spent his entire playing career in Netherlands. At just 17 years old, Slot began playing for PEC Zwolle in 1995 and would continue doing so for the next seven years.
He initially struggled with injuries at the club and his playing time was limited under the then manager Jan Everse. However, Slot went onto become an attacking midfielder over the years and helped his team win the Eerste Division (Second division) in 2001/02 and secure promotion back to the Eredivisie (Top flight) after 13 years. A decade later, Slot won the Eerste Division title with the same club in 2012.
Slot has also played for NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam. He eventually hung up his boots in 2013, after which he shifted to the coaching department at Zwolle.
Slot’s coaching career
Slot began his coaching career at Zwolle’s youth system before moving to SC Cambuur as an assistant coach. At Cambuur, he helped the club go from 14th to third in the 2016-17 season, but missed out on Eredivisie promotion following a defeat to MVV in the playoffs.
In 2017, the 45 year-old switched to AZ Alkmaar as an assistant coach before being appointed the head coach two years later.
In his first season as head coach of AZ, Slot helped the reach the round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League. This was at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world. The Eredivisie was also cancelled midway and AZ finished second with 56 points, joint top with Ajax although no title was given due to the pandemic.
Amid talks with Feyenoord in 2020, Slot was sacked as head coach of AZ and eventually took over at Feyenoord. His first full season with Feyenoord was in 2020-21 and led them to the final of the UEFA Conference League, where they lost to AS Roma.
Just a year later, in the 2022-23 season, Slot guided Feyenoord to their first Eredivisie title in six years and much recently, he won the KNVB Cup last week, beating NEC in the final.
Arne Slot’s managing style
Slot is known for his aggressive, out of possession football. The defenders are meant to play some high pressing football whereas chances have to be created by the midfielders no matter what.
“I say to Feyenoord: you have to ensure that you create four times as many chances as your opponent and work twice as hard,” Slot told Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad last year.
Slot generally prefers the 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations. His tactical approach is also in line with Klopp’s “Gegenpressing” football wherein his team closes down the opponents before regaining possession.
Slot also believes in building attacks from the back. In this method, the defenders must be able to provide forward passes in order to initiate attacks. At Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahim Konate are some of them who have employed this tactic.
Slot is also known for letting the wingers deliver crosses and make way for central attackers. This could mean Slot’s philosophy would do wonders for the likes of Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, who have, however, been linked with moves out of Anfield.
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