Topic: LFC's next manager - chat and informed speculation

[singerj]

I thought these pieces on Slot's tactics at AZ and Feyenoord were insightful:

https://www.leftbackfootball.com/home/2020/3/28/arne-slots-industrious-az-alkmaar

https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/arne-slot-feyenoord-az-alkmaar-tactics/

Reading the first one, it clicked that Koopmeiners was key for his AZ side. Reunion on the cards?

[QC]

Just hope the players are convinced - as some have mentioned, we need Trent to sign a new contract

[Andar]

A piece from Jason Burt.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/04/13/arne-slot-feyenoord-manager-shoestring-premier-league/

Some high demands will be put on the players off the ball. I sense Gakpo might get more game time under him. Man to man marking from the front so the likes of Diaz and Nunez will need to step up. Not sure Salah has it in him to press like he did. Might have to consider a Saudi bid if it were to come.

I do have to say out of the two riskier punts from the weaker leagues, Slot is the better option compared to Amorim.

Not sure why anyone who took a liking to Amorim would then be against Slot. The only reason i can conclude is that Amorim comes across as the sexier option. 30-something, the captivating name, the slick hair and being Portugese.

They have pretty similar CVs. In fact what Slot has on his side is that he has shown overperformance at Alkmaar too. I know Amorim started off well at Braga but it wasn't a large enough sample. He left after a short while.

Amorim's methodology also did not sound fit for the PL at all and I found it hard to believe we would have battled with City and Arsenal under him.

[jckliew]

Just hope the players are convinced - as some have mentioned, we need Trent to sign a new contract

With an unknown manager?  LOL

[collytum]

Hardly an inspiring proposition to be honest but the other options aren't much better. Alonso would have been good but I think he has made the right choice as following on from klopp is a next to impossible job.

[Brissyred]

Just hope the players are convinced - as some have mentioned, we need Trent to sign a new contract

Who is available, and the right fit, that would "convince the players" ?

[DLF]

stick to lacrosse

Lacrosse, a violent game of simulated warfare used to settle tribal disputes and toughen up young warriors.  Instead of RAWK?  Sound advice.

[Andar]

Feyenoord 6-0 Ajax
https://youtu.be/PEQYiGLWvC0?si=NK9IqT8NVDs6PFdv

Fair to say they are a style match to us. Some intense pressing paying off. Type of performance you would see at Anfield against the big 6. Some atmosphere too. Feyenoord fans are impressive. Cut from the same cloth as us.

[jillcwhomever]

Hardly an inspiring proposition to be honest but the other options aren't much better. Alonso would have been good but I think he has made the right choice as following on from klopp is a next to impossible job.

How do you know this? You don't know that Alonso would have been any better, as nobody knows what he's going to be like in the Premier League. Can we stop going on about it being a given he'd have done well for us, when the truth is he too would have been a risk.

[Party Phil]

There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.

[smutchin]

Mad thing is, some daft sods genuinely seem to be serious about his appearance being an issue and are embarrassed Liverpool are going for a bald coach, guess it spoils a lot of the lolz at ten Hag  

For the record, any comments I’ve made in this thread about anyone’s appearance are entirely non-serious. They were more in the spirit of taking the piss out of the level of discussion here than anything else.

I’m genuinely excited to see what Slot can do. Of course he’s a risk, of course he’s a step down from Klopp, but there is no other Klopp out there, that’s the situation we find ourselves in. On paper he looks at least as good as any other candidate who is available to us. And quite likely better than at least 18 other managers in the PL. We’ll see!

In the meantime, I’m making the most of the little time we have left with Klopp.

[smutchin]

With an unknown manager?  LOL

People who call Slot (or Amorim for that matter) “unknown” are only highlighting their own ignorance. He clearly has a great reputation across Europe.

The players will be well aware of him, you can be sure of that. Of course we can’t guarantee they’ll want to play for him. Winning them over is going to be his first job and it’s a massive one, but let’s not prejudge it because we just don’t know.

[JRed]

I can’t really imagine Europe’s top players telling their agents they need to move to Liverpool to play for Arnie Slot. I think we could be in for some tough times , the transfer thread is going to be fun.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Not sure how true it is, or how he knows, but a mate that doesn’t normally get involved with rumours and shite reckons hes been told Amorim is staying where he is.

[TepidT2O]

Their rivals Ajax got within a whisker of a CL final, and would have given us a much bigger scare than an impotent Spurs.

They have about a quarter of Ajax’s budget and their best player earns about £20k per week. For context

[Jookie]

I can’t really imagine Europe’s top players telling their agents they need to move to Liverpool to play for Arnie Slot. I think we could be in for some tough times , the transfer thread is going to be fun.

I think who the manager is  probably dictates some players choice of club in part. I’d imagine there are loads of other factors too:

How a manager wants to utilise a player


Wages and contract length

Location of club (country and city)

Size and prestige of the club

Other players at the club

Whether the club is in CL

Family/partner preference for where they want to live


Who the manager is plays a role but I suspect wages, ability to compete, role in the team and location are at least 4 other factors that are equally as important in most cases. I wouldn’t envision it’ll make that much difference to attracting the types of players we go after.


Equally think the existing players won’t be up in arms about the proposed appointment. Senior players are likely to have been consulted. Some/all of the them will know who Slot is. Also a manager coming in who plays a similar style to Klopp will alleviate some concerns/fears.

[smutchin]

Who the manager is plays a role but I suspect wages, ability to compete, role in the team and location are at least 4 other factors that are equally as important in most cases. I wouldn’t envision it’ll make that much difference to attracting the types of players we go after.

Case in point: apparently Caicedo wanted to play for Poch rather than Klopp. Go figure.

[WorldChampions]

Feyenoord 6-0 Ajax
https://youtu.be/PEQYiGLWvC0?si=NK9IqT8NVDs6PFdv

Fair to say they are a style match to us. Some intense pressing paying off. Type of performance you would see at Anfield against the big 6. Some atmosphere too. Feyenoord fans are impressive. Cut from the same cloth as us.

Missed plenty of sitters, will feel like home to him.

[zero zero]

I can’t really imagine Europe’s top players telling their agents they need to move to Liverpool to play for Arnie Slot. I think we could be in for some tough times, the transfer thread is going to be fun.

Was the pull of playing under Eddie Howe the reason why Isak and Guimares [sp?] ended up at Newcastle?

[spider-neil]

Arne is dedicated to the job and works ridiculously long hours. You could say he is a




Slot machine

[Draex]

The 6 ultras should be happy, Slot would want an elite 6 dictating the game who could run, pass and press all day.

[JRed]

Was the pull of playing under Eddie Howe the reason why Isak and Guimares [sp?] ended up at Newcastle?

No, that would’ve been the Saudi billions.

[mikey_LFC]

Going with Arne Slot does stick to some key principles that are important when hiring a manager:

1. Hire someone with experience at the job in hand (battling relegation or managing in mid table is vastly different from competing for honours and at the top of the table, whilst in Europe).
2. Hire someone with recent success (historic performances count for much less as ability wains over time)
3. Hire someone based on club performance (international performance does not translate)
4. Consider personality (hiring someone who will alienate players or create a toxic dressing room can have long term detrimental effects)
5. Have weighting towards a positive playing style (players and supporters look more favourably on attacking sides)
6. Don’t consider a manager’s playing career, especially for former players or club legends as this is emotive and distorts opinion
7. Don’t hire an interim manager
8. Consider context (success at a leagues dominant club is less impressive than with an underdog, particularly when this matches the context of the hiring club)

In Arne Slot, there’s someone who recently won a domestic title with a financial and historic underdog with a positive playing and management style. He fits the bill, even if he’s not a big name. You’d prefer he’d done it in a higher rated league, but there’s a very small pool of managers who have, whilst fitting the other criteria too.

In the last 10 years how many ‘financial underdogs’ have won a league title. With that criteria you’re probably looking at a list of managers of Klopp, Raneiri, Simeone, Alonso, Galtier,  Jardim, Spalletti, Amorim, Van Bronkhorst, Slot.

Out of those realistic options, who fit within the criteria we’d set out probably only include Alonso, Amorim and Slot. Alonso has so few games as manager (less than our 175 games we use as a broad criteria when considering players), but his achievement is obviously special, so I do wonder how they analysed him, especially given, he’d only have been part of a season to this year when our analytics started.

Out of Slot and Amorim, Slot is in the higher rated league (6th vs 7th in UEFA coefficient), has the better European record and has the more compatible style. If people were excited by Amorim they should be excited by Slot.

Of course other managers could be considered but Slot absolutely seems a logical choice.

[spider-neil]

The 6 ultras should be happy, Slot would want an elite 6 dictating the game who could run, pass and press all day.

Yep. Reading up on him he builds play through a double pivot. I wonder if Trent final gets his chance in the midfield alongside Mac as the shield and creators from deep.

[PaleBlueDot]

A piece from Jason Burt.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/04/13/arne-slot-feyenoord-manager-shoestring-premier-league/

Some high demands will be put on the players off the ball. I sense Gakpo might get more game time under him. Man to man marking from the front so the likes of Diaz and Nunez will need to step up. Not sure Salah has it in him to press like he did. Might have to consider a Saudi bid if it were to come.

I do have to say out of the two riskier punts from the weaker leagues, Slot is the better option compared to Amorim.

Not sure why anyone who took a liking to Amorim would then be against Slot. The only reason i can conclude is that Amorim comes across as the sexier option. 30-something, the captivating name, the slick hair and being Portugese.

They have pretty similar CVs. In fact what Slot has on his side is that he has shown overperformance at Alkmaar too. I know Amorim started off well at Braga but it wasn't a large enough sample. He left after a short while.

Amorim's methodology also did not sound fit for the PL at all and I found it hard to believe we would have battled with City and Arsenal under him.

You find it hard to believe he would battle with City and Arsenal but you think Slot can? Slot doesn't have a better CV than Amorim. Amorim has shown its him and not his players by winning again after losing so many of them. There isn't much between them but their respective leagues.

Slot is our guy and he can do it but we don't need to diminish Amorim to make ourselves feel better. He'd have been an excellent candidate too.

[spider-neil]

What's clear is Edwards doesn't want to rip up the style of play that runs from the academy to the first team and has been used for nearly a decade. Edwards also want want a high turnover of players needed to implement a new playing style or formation (like 3 at the back). For a 3-4-3 formation our squad is unbalanced.

[Draex]

Yep. Reading up on him he builds play through a double pivot. I wonder if Trent final gets his chance in the midfield alongside Mac as the shield and creators from deep.

Yes I’d imagine a new manager will build around Trent in midfield. You really do have to get Trent and Bradley on the pitch together next season.

The more I think about it, bringing in a manager who plays a very similar style means our transfer plans from last summer with Klopp involved will continue pretty much the same, we’d want the same positions and types of players.

[crewlove]

Don't remember right now how many players or managers left Portugal for any other big league, but the lets say success rate of players and even more managers leaving Netherlands isn't looking especially good.

Koeman, Bosz, De Boer, Cocu, ETH, Van Bronckhorst, all haven't done a particularly good job if I am not mistaken.

Generally it sounds good on paper, only that pressing part worries me a little bit. I think we've moved away from constant pressing thing and this is something we tried in Klopp's first years. Even looking health-wise, probably last thing our players need is another highly physically demanding season. And personally I've also hoped for refreshment and something new in that department.

But it also would be difficult to move to 3ATB with the squad we have. We'll see I guess.

[zero zero]

No, that would’ve been the Saudi billions.

Oh, so there are other factors beyond whether you rate the manager that affect player transfers. Thank you.

[Peabee]

After reading up on him and Feyenoord, I'm all for it. Apart from all the tactical, performance and style details, he seems like a manager who inspires his players to put everything into every game.

Some of the chat from our fans has been embarrassing really. Entitled bedwetting nonsense we usually associate with United or City fans. Maybe that was all projection.

[PaleBlueDot]

Oh, so there are other factors beyond whether you rate the manager that affect player transfers. Thank you.

We don't have billions btw   

[JRed]

Going with Arne Slot does stick to some key principles that are important when hiring a manager:

1. Hire someone with experience at the job in hand (battling relegation or managing in mid table is vastly different from competing for honours and at the top of the table, whilst in Europe).
2. Hire someone with recent success (historic performances count for much less as ability wains over time)
3. Hire someone based on club performance (international performance does not translate)
4. Consider personality (hiring someone who will alienate players or create a toxic dressing room can have long term detrimental effects)
5. Have weighting towards a positive playing style (players and supporters look more favourably on attacking sides)
6. Don’t consider a manager’s playing career, especially for former players or club legends as this is emotive and distorts opinion
7. Don’t hire an interim manager
8. Consider context (success at a leagues dominant club is less impressive than with an underdog, particularly when this matches the context of the hiring club)

In Arne Slot, there’s someone who recently won a domestic title with a financial and historic underdog with a positive playing and management style. He fits the bill, even if he’s not a big name. You’d prefer he’d done it in a higher rated league, but there’s a very small pool of managers who have, whilst fitting the other criteria too.

In the last 10 years how many ‘financial underdogs’ have won a league title. With that criteria you’re probably looking at a list of managers of Klopp, Raneiri, Simeone, Alonso, Galtier,  Jardim, Spalletti, Amorim, Van Bronkhorst, Slot.

Out of those realistic options, who fit within the criteria we’d set out probably only include Alonso, Amorim and Slot. Alonso has so few games as manager (less than our 175 games we use as a broad criteria when considering players), but his achievement is obviously special, so I do wonder how they analysed him, especially given, he’d only have been part of a season to this year when our analytics started.

Out of Slot and Amorim, Slot is in the higher rated league (6th vs 7th in UEFA coefficient), has the better European record and has the more compatible style. If people were excited by Amorim they should be excited by Slot.

Of course other managers could be considered but Slot absolutely seems a logical choice.

Thanks for that, good post.
Just can’t help feeling underwhelmed, I thought we would go for a proven manager to build on what Klopp has done. He will obviously be given a chance by the fans but the bit about doing it at a financially challenged club makes me worry that FSG want someone who is fine with not buying players to strengthen.

[RedSince86]

This edit someone did at LFC Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/iDrDil0izi

[Peabee]

Don't remember right now how many players or managers left Portugal for any other big league, but the lets say success rate of players and even more managers leaving Netherlands isn't looking especially good.

Koeman, Bosz, De Boer, Cocu, ETH, Van Bronckhorst, all haven't done a particularly good job if I am not mistaken.

Generally it sounds good on paper, only that pressing part worries me a little bit. I think we've moved away from constant pressing thing and this is something we tried in Klopp's first years. Even looking health-wise, probably last thing our players need is another highly physically demanding season. And personally I've also hoped for refreshment and something new in that department.

But it also would be difficult to move to 3ATB with the squad we have. We'll see I guess.

What have they got to do with Slot other than being from the same country? It's not a relevant attribute of a person or coach. It would be like cherrypicking all the German coaches that have failed and saying Klopp must be a failure too.

[Peabee]

We don't have billions btw   

Nor does any club except those being sportswashed or loaded with unsustainable debt.

[crewlove]

I'm simply looking at managers who recently (or little less recently) moved away from the Eredivisie and tried their luck elsewhere. And the success rate isn't great. Is it an indicator for Slot? Not really, but one way you're gonna look at it is to compare with other managers from the same league.

[zero zero]

We don't have billions btw   

We do have one of the highest wage bills in the sport. And and an iconic stadium, the chance to play in front of fans famed for getting behind their team (arf), in a city world-renowned for it's football culture.

We also have the good fortune to have a current manager who resigned rather than get sacked, a squad that's been assembled by a best in class recruitment team, that's fighting for the title and train in world class facilities.

But, just like the transfer forum, we have posters who would have snide digs at a manager who hasn't even signed because he's not their choice.

[Draex]

Nor does any club except those being sportswashed or loaded with unsustainable debt.

I think secretly there is a small but noisey section of this forum who would like us to be a sportswashing project with unlimited wealth.

[Draex]

Something I find funny but I am slightly weird, people talk about the Dutch league like it's a second rate one to criticise Slot, yet our own Pep failed there with NEC and there are calls for him to step up..

[Historical Fool]

I'm simply looking at managers who recently (or little less recently) moved away from the Eredivisie and tried their luck elsewhere. And the success rate isn't great. Is it an indicator for Slot? Not really, but one way you're gonna look at it is to compare with other managers from the same league.

It does depend a lot on the nature of the tactics.

One of the interesting postmortems of Ten Hag at Manchester United was that his tactics are too open - playing a sole pivot, pushing his fullbacks up to overload, a brand of possession football relying on transitions and pressing, with a sweeper keeper keeping a high line at the back. It worked in the Eredivisie because the quality of opposition he would face were not physical, not athletic, not mobile enough to take advantage of the gaps that such a tactic leaves behind.

Ten Hag has brought that same tactical setup to Manchester United and the BPL and this has resulted in Manchester United conceding, on a per-game basis, the highest or close to joint highest number of shots on goal in the league. Teams in this league are fitter, more tactically savvy, and are far quicker to exploit the gaps left behind by fullbacks pushing up with a sole pivot as a creative destroyer type 6. It's far too open, and teams have figured it out and are exploiting it accordingly. This is Ten Hag being stubborn but Manchester United are one of if not the most porous team in the BPL as things stand.

The good thing for the Slotter is that he will have seen first-hand how such tactics translate, and he has a recent cautionary tale to guard against this.