Liverpool manager Arne Slot has picked up exactly where Jurgen Klopp left off and then some, helping the Reds to the top of the Premier League table as well as a strong position in the Champions League and a League Cup final.
Slot didn’t make a host of new signings upon arriving at Liverpool, either, simply adding Federico Chiesa to his squad while letting fringe players Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg leave.
In doing so, there’s been great continuity at Anfield, something Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson believes has been pivotal to Slot’s success thus far in 2024/25.
Liverpool manager Slot ‘clever’ in not making too many changes
“The new manager was extremely clever,” Lawrenson exclusively tells FourFourTwo. “He looked at the players and thought, ‘I don’t need to chop and change them, I’m going to let them play virtually the same way, the odd little change – it’s not broken, let’s get on with it’.
“He must sit in his office and think what a good job this is – thanks very much, Jurgen Klopp. He can just continue the good work.
“He was clever as well to get players off the bench in the first few games, even if it was only 20 minutes, so he could look at them, and also to keep the dressing room happy. He doesn’t really need to say anything to the player coming on, and I don’t think he does.
“The pure simplicity of the way he’s managed the squad is probably the biggest thing I could say about him.”
Lawrenson spent eight years at Liverpool during the peak years of his career, winning five league titles, an FA Cup and a European Cup. When comparing the transition from Klopp to Slot to his playing career, where Joe Fagan replaced the hugely successful Bob Paisley, Dalglish believes there are plenty of similarities.
“It was very simple in my time, too,” Lawrenson says.
“When Graeme Souness signed, the day before his first game he asked the boss Joe Fagan how he wanted him to play. Joe looked at him, rolled his eyes and said, ‘We’ve paid £350,000 for you – if you don’t effing well know by now, what chance have we got?’
“It was just a case of getting on with what you were doing at your previous club.”
