Arne Slot showed the Premier League that he is not a pretender on Sunday when he adapted his Liverpool side to absorb the pressure from Manchester City to coast home to a relatively comfortable 2-0 win at the Etihad.
Slot started the season with a pronounced emphasis on being tighter at the back and in more control than was characteristic under Jurgen Klopp but the former Feyenoord coach showed how adaptable he is against Manchester City.
Travelling away to Manchester City under Pep Guardiola has meant a guaranteed lower-than-average ball possession for every team in the country. Klopp’s style of play meant that Liverpool forced City back and choked them from the top of the pitch with high-pressing and high-intensity transitions, but Slot let Pep do what he wanted on Sunday.
With Erling Haaland absent, Slot assumed correctly that City would be toothless in attack and allowed City to have as much of the ball as they wanted. The Reds had just 33% of the possession but used it more effectively, playing direct.
Slot has been praised for his willingness to play a different style of play based on his opponents and Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at the Etihad is perhaps the best example at a key moment as the Merseysiders stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to 11 points.
Manchester United and Ruben Amorim told to copy Liverpool and Arne Slot
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker, a message was sent to Manchester United. Micah Richards says Ruben Amorim should emulate Liverpool and, specifically, Arne Slot.
“It was really good tactically, normally they would go with a Diaz on the left or a Jota upfront. But they went with Curtis Jones didn’t they, sort of patrolling the left-hand side. They went with another one in midfield for the transitions and it just worked. I agree with Alan.
“We expect Liverpool in previous seasons to be gung-ho, really going at teams but they don’t need to.
“This is what we talk about with Amorim at Man United, we are not talking about having to change your tactics completely, it’s just about adapting to the game you are playing and that’s what Slot is so good at doing.”
Why Amorim can’t emulate Arne Slot and why it’s not his fault
Rarely can you find me defending anyone at Manchester United but, Liverpool are simply in an entirely different stage of their development. Jurgen Klopp left behind a club that recently moved to a start of the art training ground, has regularly upgraded its stadium, has the entire club from grass roots to the first team playing according to the same philosophy and is packed with world class players and coaches.
Man Utd have been making the same mistakes since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and don’t show any signs of learning from them, including recruitment and player management.
Amorim would need the freedom to reconstruct the entire club to have close to the stable foundation that Slot is working with.
There is no denying the Dutch coach is brilliant at what he does, but a lot of his immediate success comes down to elite establishment he worked into. Liverpool are lucky to have him, though, and with a potential Premier League title heading to Anfield, Slot deserves his flowers.
