Arne Slot’s Liverpool journey has been shaped as much by Jürgen Klopp’s lasting aura as by his own results — and the pressure is growing.
On the one hand, Arne Slot inherited not only a squad but also a mythology when he became the manager of Liverpool in the summer of 2024.
Juergen Klopp had taken nine years to create something that went beyond football philosophy – a cult-like personality-based movement that combined high-intensity pressing with raw emotion, passion, and near cult-like affiliation with fans.
Klopp did not just depart Anfield in May 2024 when he left. It remained behind and Slot has been leading a life under its shadow.
A Title Victory That Did Not Alter anything in the Story.
The first 2024/25 season of Slot was a success, by any objective measure. He led Liverpool to the title of the premier league, something unheard of by a manager in his first season at a highly demanding club in English football.
Even that, however, did not quite put a stop to the comparisons.
Where Klopp was fire, Slot is composed. Slot is a proponent, where Klopp was a natural and dramatic at the touchline.
His style has been referred to as symphonic – possession-based approach, which is the opposite of the exalted heavy metal football by Klopp. And though such a way brought in a title, it has not brought in the same emotional appeal.
Wayne Rooney was straightforward by saying that Slot does not have that aura in Liverpool, speedily saying that it was tricky after someone so legendary as Klopp makes it hard on anyone. It is a just observation, but it is also one that describes the dilemma Slot is struggling with on a daily basis.
The Set-Piece Problem That Pour Petrol on the Fire.
The 2025/26 season has introduced new criticism. Liverpool have gone down the ladder, inconsistencies have crept in and a continuing set-piece problem was a target of criticism.
The Reds have been giving up on set-pieces and scored only eight goals in the first 26 games of this season an unsustainable level of poor performance that led to the firing of a single development coach, Aaron Briggs, by the end of December.
The figures have been on the increase since Briggs left. Liverpool had allowed only two set-piece goals and retained their scored eight in the next 12 matches. Slot was eager to emphasize, though, that it was not Briggs who ought to suffer.
That would be quite unfair to Aaron who was partly to blame in that since, after all, everything in the end is my fault.
He continued to give the story in greater perspective:
“We have been in that time so uncouthy. We all realized that it could not continue like that because we hardly gave chances in the set-pieces but every ball was going in and we could make numerous opportunities to make a goal and the ball was going in.
Slot thinks that things now are back to normal, which is a term that shows his cool, data-oriented management style, although some of his followers may find it dull.
Nostalgia, Speculation, and the Names That Won’t Go Away.
Outside the tactical arguments, Slot is also moving through a larger narrative war. There has been speculation of possible successors; the most notable is Xabi Alonso who was free after a temporary stint at Real Madrid which has been a background noise to his time.
Whispers of another Klopp comeback, although the German has denied that he is interested in going into management again in the short term, still keep reappearing in the football media.
Jamie Redknapp is one of those who have gone to Slot’s defence, admitting that he does not even seek to imitate the personality of Klopp, which would have been clichéd and counterproductive.
However, to a part of the fanbase who idealise the old days, Slot remaining calm may seem like a slap on the face, no matter what his history indicates.
Slot himself has used his League title as evidence that his techniques are effective. It is difficult to disagree with that argument. Nonetheless, in a football culture that is gradually turning into a culture of personality, emotion, and social media stories, the results are not the only thing that prevails.
The Trap Klopp Built -Without Intending To.
The legacy of Klopp is not that he was trying to burden Slot with it. It is merely the result of nine years of exaggerated personality coming into actual triumph. The issue with Slot is that the identity of Liverpool under Klopp could not be seen without the man.
Slot is now operating in a world where the winning trophies and tactical excellence have to fight against the nostalgia and personality-based judgement. That is the new Liverpool reality – and maneuvering through it is what might be his most complicated task so far.
