There’s a weird habit creeping into the chat around Liverpool right now: every bit of praise for Arne Slot has to come with a disclaimer for Jürgen Klopp. As if saying Slot’s done well is automatically a dig. It isn’t. Klopp built this squad and that matters, but Slot is the one who’s had to steer it week to week and make the calls that actually turn a strong group into a winning one.
Yes, Slot has inherited a better situation than Klopp did when he walked in. That’s not controversial. It’s also not a reason to knock him. If anything, it makes the judgement simpler: he’s been handed a side with quality and experience, and the job is to maximise it without ruining what already works. Plenty of managers arrive and immediately start pulling levers for the sake of it. New shape, new roles, half a new XI, just to put their stamp on things.
Keeping the good bits was a decision
What’s been overlooked is that not changing loads is still a choice. Slot could’ve tried to be clever. He could’ve listened to the loudest voices calling for wholesale tweaks and “fresh ideas” everywhere. Instead, he’s backed the core of the side and trusted that evolution beats revolution. To be fair, that takes a bit of nerve. It’s easy to over-manage when you’re the new fella.
And even with continuity, you still have to win matches. You still have to read games, make adjustments, keep standards high, keep the atmosphere right, and keep lads buying into it. That’s not luck. That’s the job.
Klopp’s starting point matters too
It’s also fine to say Klopp had a tougher rebuild. He inherited a very different Liverpool and had to drag the whole club upwards, from recruitment to mentality to the way we played. That’s a massive part of his legacy and no one sensible is trying to erase it.
But comparing what two managers do with broadly the same squad across consecutive seasons isn’t “agenda”. It’s football. Context matters, of course it does, but results still count. Otherwise what are we even discussing?
Backing Slot doesn’t rewrite history
I’d have loved to see Klopp with this group again too, just to see what he’d squeeze out of it. But we don’t get that version of events. We’ve got Slot. So back him, judge him fairly, and let him try to build something of his own on top of what Klopp left behind.
If it doesn’t work over time, then Liverpool will make a call like they always do. Until then, blaming Slot for not starting from the same place Klopp did is just looking for a fight that doesn’t need to exist.
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