Watching Liverpool in a new era is always going to feel strange at first, and that’s before you even get to the truth that nobody is replacing Klopp. Not really. Yet a lot of the noise around Arne Slot feels like we’re demanding a Klopp tribute act, then getting angry when it isn’t one.

It’s the inconsistency that does my head in. Klopp, early doors, had wobbles. The football could be wild, the results could swing, and there were proper moments where people questioned whether it was going to click. He was afforded time because the club believed in the direction and because building something real takes more than a few months of vibes.

There’s no such thing as “Klopp 2.0”

That’s the bit we need to accept, even if it stings. Klopp was a once-in-a-generation manager for us. The pressing, the energy, the sense of inevitability when Anfield got going… you don’t just copy and paste that onto the next lad’s laptop and expect it to run the same.

So when people say “stop comparing Slot to Klopp”, I get it in theory. But in practice, that’s exactly what’s happening anyway. It’s just dressed up as something else: complaints about style, about tempo, about whether it’s entertaining enough. The benchmark is still Klopp, even when we pretend it isn’t.

Criticism is fair, but so is patience

This isn’t a blanket defence of Slot. He can get things wrong. He has got things wrong. There are obvious areas where Liverpool can look flat and where the team needs more intensity and a clearer edge to its mentality. The point is: if changes are needed, he has to be allowed to actually make them.

And if we’re being honest, judging a new manager purely on whether the football immediately gives you that old adrenaline hit is a bit shallow. It’s not even just a football problem, it’s a modern one. We’ve all been conditioned into 30-second clips and instant reactions. If it isn’t fireworks straight away, the temptation is to swipe to the next opinion, the next complaint, the next meltdown.

Support him through the awkward bit

I loved Klopp. Most of us did. I’d have taken another 20 years of him, no question. But it wasn’t possible, and hanging onto it like a security blanket doesn’t help the next chapter. Slot doesn’t need protecting from every criticism, but he does deserve the one thing we were glad Klopp got: proper time to build something that’s his.

If you don’t fancy that, fair enough. But if the only standard is “make it look like Klopp immediately”, we’re setting ourselves up to be permanently unhappy.

Written by RedMob: 5 January 2026

Tags: efl tactics