How Arne Slot reinvented Liverpool to become champions without a single major signing | OneFootball

After Jurgen Klopp had dropped his bombshell, when Liverpool were assessing the contenders to replace him, several aspects of Arne Slot’s record counted in his favour. There was the reputation for over-performing, for exceeding his targets. The Feyenoord head coach had won a historic club just their second league title of the 21st century. Slot was not initially the favourite – externally, anyway – for the Liverpool job. Nor were Liverpool the favourites to become champions after his appointment. Just their second league title of the 21st century has followed after he overperformed again; the club set him the objective of qualifying for the Champions League.

History has repeated itself. For Slot and, in a way, for Liverpool. The coach plucked from the Netherlands becomes their third manager to win the league in his debut campaign, after Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. Two men promoted from within in the 1980s were internal appointments. Slot was both the outsider and the continuity candidate, new to the club, league and country but selected in part because they felt he would suit Klopp’s players. He proved a seamless fit.

A triumph of planning has also been a case of exceeding expectations. Liverpool came third last season but both Slot and his captain, Virgil van Dijk, have said that no one expected them to challenge for the title this year. The backdrop of the uncertainty caused by Klopp’s departure was one reason.

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Liverpool found a way to move on from the departure of the seemingly irreplaceable Klopp (Getty Images)

Another was that, for the Liverpool players who spent their summer at Euro 2024 or the Copa America, their first experience of Slot was delayed until a few training sessions before the two friendlies against Las Palmas and Sevilla, a week before the season started. Yet excitement had been building among those on the pre-season tour of the United States. Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah were impressed and enthused by the new man, the midfielder’s bullishness when he said he was “probably the happiest I’ve been” meant he later had to clarify he was not criticising Klopp.

But both were examples of how Liverpool’s players were receptive to new ideas. The reaction to Salah’s touchline argument with Klopp at West Ham last April may have been overblown, but the Egyptian has produced what is arguably a career-best campaign for Slot: 33 goals, 23 assists and counting, aided by being spared some defensive duties.

When they did their due diligence, Liverpool had noted how Slot could conjure more from players with his coaching. At Anfield, he had an idea of what to change while giving the impression little had changed. Yet the alterations were not radical, drastic or needless. Van Dijk appreciated the tactical shift to give him a midfielder dropping deeper, allowing him to play different passes. Luis Diaz was initially a revelation when switched to become a striker, even if his form tailed off when used in the middle. Cody Gakpo benefited from playing purely on the left. The flagship success was Ryan Gravenberch, reinvented as the holding midfielder after the main summer transfer target, Martin Zubimendi, opted to stay at Real Sociedad.

It underlined a difference between Slot and Klopp, who preferred Wataru Endo as a defensive midfielder whereas the Dutchman, appreciating the Japanese’s character but wanting a midfielder with greater passing ability, used him as a closer, to see out games.

If Slot adapted to the circumstances at Anfield, he did again when Zubimendi opted out. It brought another parallel with Liverpool’s past: in 2019-20, when Klopp won the Premier League, the only senior signing was a back-up goalkeeper, Adrian. Now Liverpool bought a goalkeeper, in Giorgi Mamardashvili, but sent him back to Valencia on loan so the only arrival in the squad was Federico Chiesa, who has not started a league game.

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Slot has improved many aspects of Liverpool’s squad without needing the transfer market (Getty Images)

Slot instead worked with those he inherited. Gravenberch apart, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of regime change was Ibrahima Konate, the man brought on in his first, and perhaps most significant substitution. At half-time in his competitive bow, at Ipswich, Slot decided Jarell Quansah was winning too few duels and replaced him with Konate. A 0-0 draw became a 2-0 win and Konate Van Dijk’s regular sidekick.

If it showed that Slot, amiable as he invariably is, can be direct in his analysis, he is unafraid to be decisive. And, time and again, he has improved his team at half-time, whether by turning to the bench or with tactical tweaks. At one stage in autumn, 23 of Liverpool’s last 26 goals had come in the second half of games. Give the problem-solver in Slot 45 minutes and he would find an answer. He showed he has an analytical mind and is a swift learner.

If Ipswich was the first pivotal game, another soon followed. A dominant victory over Manchester United had particular resonance, given how Liverpool hit a roadblock at Old Trafford in both the FA Cup and the Premier League last season. Slot outwitted his fellow Dutchman Erik ten Hag; it was a way of implying that some arrivals from the Eredivisie were good enough.

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Slot enjoyed an impressive early win at Manchester United before Liverpool built their lead (Getty Images)

And yet a valuable lesson was soon dispensed. Liverpool lost their fourth game, at home to Nottingham Forest. If the victors were irritated by Slot’s inference that it was the kind of match Liverpool ought to win, it may have been an illustration not to underestimate the supposed lesser lights – though Forest proved they did not belong in that category – and the Dutchman spent the rest of the season insisting every win in the Premier League was difficult. It was an important reality check. He learned; in another respect, too. It was the first game after an international break and he selected Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister, each back from long trips to South America. Come Liverpool’s return to action after the October and November breaks, they began on the bench.

The setback to Forest was followed by a 26-game unbeaten run in the top flight. Some, those at Anfield believe, were crucial in showing Liverpool had the mettle required. There was the Champions League victory over AC Milan: three days after Forest, they were 1-0 down at San Siro after three minutes. There was the 2-2 draw at Arsenal, where they lost last season and could easily have done again. There was the home win over Brighton, when Liverpool were inferior at half-time and trailed but when they demonstrated they could play with a blend of Slot and Klopp as they upped the intensity after the interval. A big game, they feel, was the 2-2 draw with Fulham at Anfield, when Liverpool were twice behind, down to 10 men after 16 minutes, and took a point through Diogo Jota’s late goal.

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The title race did not go to the wire but Liverpool’s season still featured drama (AP)

The spell that helped persuade everyone what was possible came after the international break. Liverpool were conscious of the criticism they benefited from an easy start. Yet then they had a 10-game spell of Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton, Brighton again, Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Southampton. Real Madrid and Manchester City. They won nine and drew the other one, increasing belief within the club. The back-to-back victories over Real and City rendered them the best team in Europe at that point. Slot did not make too much of winning the Champions League’s inaugural 36-team group stage, and Liverpool exited the competition in the last 16, but it was a sign of consistency.

There has been a consistency to Slot, too. Behind the scenes, he shows the calmness he usually demonstrates in public. His unworried temperament and low-key approach was an asset during the saga of the three contracts. It was ultimately a vote of confidence in him from Salah and Van Dijk that they re-signed for a further two years each. Slot got the end result he wanted, but he had never seemed distracted by the backdrop, or by much else. Compared to Klopp, there were fewer complaints about the calendar, none about 12.30 kick-offs. He rarely moaned about injuries, perhaps leading fans of some other clubs to think Liverpool never had any.

It was what made Slot’s loss of temper at the end of the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park out of character. And yet, despite the tempestuous end, that Merseyside derby may have worked in Liverpool’s favour. It was rearranged from December because of Storm Darragh; it was due to be played three days after they conceded an injury-time equaliser at Newcastle, when they were short of defenders and without the banned Mac Allister.

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Slot apologised for his outburst at referee Michael Oliver and was banned for two games (Getty Images)

If Slot’s Liverpool won the league the way Klopp’s team did five years earlier, by setting a fearsome pace, piling up the points early in the season and distancing their challengers, they profited from City’s struggles. They also caused some of them, a shift in the balance of power showed by two 2-0 wins. By the time Liverpool lost form and momentum themselves, it may have cost them the Carabao Cup – Slot felt they did much right in the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain – but not the Premier League.

There was some irritation within the club at some of the reaction when, within a week, a potential treble was reduced to a lone trophy. The fact is that it is only Liverpool’s second league title in 35 years; and yet they had led for so long, that it had seemed such a formality, that some appeared to take it for granted.

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Van Dijk scored the winner against West Ham in the week he signed a new contract (Getty Images)

Liverpool did not. Salah had said the title was his top priority. Others were of a similar mind. They got their wish. A transitional season became a triumphant one, a smooth succession underlining how well they had chosen but also Slot’s deft approach and his players’ willingness to adjust to the new era.

Slot had not fallen into the trap of trying to be his idiosyncratic predecessor. Before his first game at Anfield, he said he would not copy Klopp’s trademark, crowd-pleasing fist pumps. But without the German’s huge charisma or innate quotability, what he instead delivered was a feat of quiet competence. Like Liverpool when they needed to replace the seemingly irreplaceable manager, Slot got his decisions right.