Liverpool’s stars now have the green light to give Jurgen Klopp a fitting send-off with one final blast of heavy-metal football. With Feyenoord boss Arne Slot officially set to become his successor next week, Liverpool players can finally free their minds of uncertainty and send their German boss off in style in their final three games. All the recent speculation about Xabi Alonso, Ruben Amorim, Roberto De Zerbi, Ange Postecoglou and then Dutchman Slot has done no one at Anfield any good – least of all Klopp’s players.
That’s not being critical, it’s just the way it is when a manager is heading off to pastures new. It was evident in the defeat to Everton, a result I didn’t see coming and an indication a few might have taken their eye off the ball. And that’s why many pundits and fans were saying Liverpool’s title challenge was over before Saturday’s match with West Ham.
Klopp needs a big helping hand from Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, but I’m not sure it’s coming, especially with Manchester City on fire and Arsenal in the groove again. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t a clue Slot was even in the conversation among the power brokers who run Liverpool. He wasn’t someone who jumped out at me as a candidate.
In fact, I knew nothing about Slot at all or the way he plays and, probably like many people, I dived into Google to check him out. He’s done OK at Feyenoord the last couple of seasons, but only time will tell if he can take Liverpool to greater heights than Klopp managed. That will be a tall order, but the more pressing problem for Liverpool is getting some stability back into players feeling the effects of Jurgen’s imminent departure.
They’ve had nearly nine years of Klopp at Liverpool and suddenly everything is about to change. Everything about their daily working lives has been mapped out and planned by Klopp and his staff. They’ve known what time he likes to train and what he demands, how he likes to travel, the pre-match routines, team meetings and how he prepares for games.
Now, the players are in the dark and probably feel in limbo because they know it’s going to be different. You could see against Everton, and even against West Ham, it wasn’t the performance of a Klopp team – everything was off. People might say the players are paid to play, so get on with it, but it’ll be tough for them.
The familiarity they’ve known is going to change and there’s going to be a transition because Klopp is a force of nature and the new man, whoever it is, won’t be the same. That’s why it’s important, as they did with Jurgen, that Liverpool pick the right character fit for the club because tough times might be ahead. I’m sure the club’s recruitment team have done their research.
They’ve done really well with their due diligence on players and I’m certain they are right about Slot. They weren’t looking for a quick fix to get them through a tricky period after Klopp. It was about getting the right character, who understands the fans and the club’s culture.
Look at what Real Madrid did replacing Zinedine Zidane in 2019. They didn’t go for a young talented manager with potential, they went for Carlo Ancelotti, an experienced coach and the right character to push Madrid forward. Liverpool needed to do the same.
So the announcement on Slot will give the players some clarity. And that will enable them to give Klopp the best possible send-off in the last few games… and he deserves that.