How Arne Slot, Liverpool won the Premier League
LIVERPOOL, England -- With seconds remaining in Liverpool's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur, Arne Slot turned on the touchline and blew a kiss to his family in the stands. It was a quiet, understated gesture from the man who has, in that same manner, achieved the unthinkable in his debut season at Anfield.
If it was Jürgen Klopp who turned Liverpool supporters from doubters to believers, then it's Slot who has ensured that well of belief has not run dry.
Klopp, in his first news conference as Liverpool boss in 2015, described himself as "The Normal One" as a tongue-in-cheek nod to Jose Mourinho's self-proclaimed title, "The Special One." But what Klopp did during his nine years on Merseyside was far from normal.
With Liverpool having spent years in the wilderness after the inception of the Premier League in 1992, it was Klopp who restored the club to greatness, famously ending its 30-year title drought in 2020 and building a team capable of going toe-to-toe with one of the most formidable sides in English football history in Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Away from the pitch, Klopp also assumed the role of a statesman; a spiritual leader as comfortable commenting on politics or a pandemic as he was discussing tactics.
It seemed to many that it would be impossible to successfully follow such a legendary figure. Slot, however, has defied expectation and shown it can be done.
"The moment I knew I would become the new head coach over here, that's already a moment that you're so proud of -- to be part of such a great football club," the Liverpool boss said in his postmatch news conference Sunday. "Then, now to be part of the history of this football club is something I think I could only have dreamt of two, three or four years ago."
For Slot and Liverpool, that dream has come true, with nobody picking them in the preseason to reach the summit. Over the past nine months, he has conditioned fans and players to expect success and, in doing so, has delivered Liverpool's 20th league title. But how did the boy from Bergentheim, Netherlands, become a Premier League champion?
Where Arne Slot came fromSlot's journey to stardom in Liverpool reads like a fairy tale. Born in the Dutch canal village of Bergentheim, he wanted a career in professional football, having grown up watching his dad's involvement in their local village team. Little did either know that 46 years later, he would lift the Premier League trophy as coach of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
The contrast between Slot as a player and coach could hardly be greater. In 1995, when Slot was 17, he earned a permanent place in the squad at FC Zwolle and made his official debut in a 2-1 defeat against FC Den Bosch in the Dutch second division. After seven years at Zwolle, Slot transferred to NAC Breda, where he worked under Henk ten Cate, later an assistant coach at FC Barcelona and Chelsea.
"He fought to get himself in the team," Ten Cate said to ESPN. "Arne was a good player with technical skills, a real thinker of the game. He lacked speed, but instead of speed, he compensated with intelligence."
With Slot orchestrating play from midfield, NAC Breda enjoyed one of the best seasons in their history, finishing fourth in the Eredivisie and qualifying for European competition. It was there that Slot began to hone his footballing philosophy.
"He was always a fan of offensive football," Ten Cate said. "He was an offensive midfield player, with a good vision of the game, and this is what you see in his managerial career: He is always busy with the details. Arne was always thinking about the game. That makes him more exceptional than others.
"There was a coach in him, but more of a coach on the pitch. But, to be honest, I never expected him to become the big manager."
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Those sentiments are shared by Bram van Polen, who played with Slot at Zwolle and credits his former teammate with constantly trying to think of new training innovations.
"He was a really smart player," Van Polen said. "He played with his head and had a really fantastic right foot. I have to say he was a little bit lazy. The things he asks from his team now is everything he didn't like as a player. So, there is a big difference with the player Arne Slot and the coach Arne Slot.
"He was always trying to be creative, too -- with corners and free kicks, for example. He was constantly searching YouTube for new ideas. We scored a few times from set pieces, exactly the way he had visualized them. He wasn't officially a coach back then, but he acted like one on the pitch. He was always trying new things, and you see the same at Liverpool now."
After a brief stint as youth coach at Zwolle, SC Cambuur manager Henk de Jong gave Slot his first break in management, appointing him as his assistant coach in 2016. "I liked him," he told ESPN. "As a player, he was always thinking three steps ahead. If you're not fast, you have to think quick. That's why I believed in him as a coach.
"Arne had a database with footage from clubs all over the world. He watched a lot of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. I used to joke, 'There he goes watching Peppi again!' Guardiola is special, but so is Arne in the way he thinks. I wouldn't be surprised if Pep is watching Arne's matches now.
"Arne was always in control in the room, especially when talking to players. The players felt how good he was. With him, it's always: What you give is what you get. Sipke Hulshoff, who was my other assistant at the time [and is now Slot's assistant at Liverpool], was the same. Great people. I felt he was going to be a really good first-team coach in a few years."
With Slot's reputation growing, Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar came knocking in summer 2017. After two seasons working as an assistant to former Netherlands midfielder John van den Brom, Slot was promoted to head coach ahead of the 2019-20 season.
"After our first conversation with Arne, it was clear he had a very specific vision of how a team should play attractive, attacking football," said AZ technical director Max Huiberts, who was responsible for appointing Slot. "Many coaches have ideas, but the way Arne explained his -- with clarity and video evidence -- was remarkable. He followed it up on the pitch with staff and players."
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In his debut season in charge, Slot came agonisingly close to winning the club's third Eredivisie title, ultimately losing to Ajax on goal difference after the season was cut short during the coronavirus pandemic. In December 2020, Slot was sacked by the club's management for holding talks with Feyenoord Rotterdam, where he took charge the following summer.
"He was already doing his homework before he even took over," said Christos Akkas, who was Feyenoord's former chief scout. "He tried to gather as much information as possible about recruitment, the club's structure, and even the performance department and nutritionists. He was on top of everything before he even stepped in."
Midfielder Jens Toornstra, captain of Feyenoord at the time, remembered his first meeting with Slot vividly.
"He immediately showed videos of Europe's top teams, focusing on the hard work it takes to play dominant football," Toornstra told ESPN. "It was all about intensity, sprinting back, and mentality. That meeting really impressed me."
Slot wasted no time implementing his vision at Feyenoord, reaching the UEFA Conference League final in his debut season, ultimately losing 1-0 to Jose Mourinho's AS Roma. For Slot, though, that defeat only served to make him hungrier for success in Rotterdam, with the Dutchman enlisting players such as Dávid Hancko, Mats Wieffer and Santiago Gimenez to help him achieve his goal.
"Arne always had his own opinion about players coming in," Akkas said. "There are a lot of good coaches who just tend to let players adapt only to their own style. While Arne will bring you into your own strengths and he would also adapt to that. He always evaluates who he is working with."
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That philosophy has kept Slot in good standing at Liverpool, where he has repeatedly shown he is not wedded to only one formation. At a time when 'system coaches' are becoming more prevalent -- Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has attracted plenty of criticism this term for refusing to deviate from his preferred 3-4-3 formation -- Slot's willingness to be flexible is one of the things that sets him apart.
"I was hoping if people looked at my team, they would not say it is 4-2-3-1 or it is 4-3-3 or whatever formation you want to call it," Slot said during a news conference last summer. "I was hoping they would say there is a lot of freedom when they have the ball to take it in different positions. So, sometimes it is a 4-2-3-1; sometimes it is a 4-1-4-1; sometimes we do build up with three. So, there's a lot of 'freedom' when we have the ball."
Slot's shrewd recruitment at Feyenoord quickly paid dividends as the club ended the 2022-23 season as Eredivisie champions. But despite being repeatedly linked with a move away from the Netherlands -- Tottenham Hotspur were among the interested parties in summer 2023 -- it wasn't until Liverpool came calling that Slot made the leap to the Premier League.
"Arne wouldn't leave for just any club," Akkas said. "Feyenoord is a beautiful club. I think there would only be four or five clubs in the world where, as a coach, you can't say no. He said no to different quite big clubs, but Liverpool is in a different category."
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While the Feyenoord fans were preparing to bid farewell to one of their greatest managers, Liverpool was in mourning. Klopp's announcement in January 2024 that he would leave the club sent shockwaves through the football world, with many expecting Liverpool would struggle to make a smooth transition to life under a new head coach.
"The whole feeling was just that it was deeply sad, and I remember doing some media stuff of the evening [of Klopp's announcement] and the whole tone was like it was a Royal funeral," Neil Atkinson, CEO of prominent fan channel The Anfield Wrap, told ESPN. "I just remember thinking, 'No, we can't have this,' and then there was a sense of sheer defiance."
Immediately, comparisons were drawn to the exit of legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, who revolutionized the club upon his arrival in 1959. Under Shankly's stewardship, Liverpool won promotion from English football's second tier and subsequently yielded three top-flight titles as well as the UEFA Cup (now known as the UEFA Europa League).
Before his departure in 1974, the Scotsman laid the foundations for Liverpool's unprecedented success under his successor Bob Paisley. Shankly was credited with transforming the culture at Anfield, with Klopp viewed as his modern-day counterpart.
Just like Shankly, Klopp would be a tough act to follow. Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso was the fan-favourite choice because of his phenomenal record in the Bundesliga and Anfield connections, having won the Champions League as a player with Liverpool in 2005. Sporting Lisbon manager Amorim -- now head coach of United -- was also linked, but it was Slot who most impressed Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and the club's hierarchy.
"It wasn't like he was one of the most well-known names across Europe, so when he was announced, nobody thought Liverpool were going to win the league in his first season," Ian Doyle, Chief Liverpool Writer for the Liverpool Echo, told ESPN. "You only had to look at what happened when Arsene Wenger left Arsenal and when Alex Ferguson left Manchester United. It's not easy to take over from somebody who's been there for a very long time and has essentially built a club in their image."
It was fitting, then, that Klopp's final act as Liverpool manager was to pave the way for his successor, urging fans inside Anfield to join him in singing Slot's name after last season's Premier League finale against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"When you have to succeed Jürgen Klopp, there is a really big wall you have to climb over," de Jong said. "But when Jürgen sang the 'Arne Slot' song, he made the wall way lower, so Arne could easily jump over, and he could immediately go."
Though Klopp might have gracefully handed over the baton, the onus was still on Slot to prove he had the credentials to keep the pace and carry Liverpool over the finish line. Certainly, it didn't take long for the Dutchman to make an impression on his squad, with midfielder Curtis Jones among the first players to heap praise on his new head coach.
"He's amazing, actually," Jones said during last summer's preseason tour of the United States. "It's probably the happiest I've been in terms of a style of play that suits me and the lads we have in our team. It's a clear plan. The training and stuff he is fully involved [in]. He coaches us a lot. He's big on the finer details."
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Though preseason results rarely mean much, Liverpool's 2-1 win over Arsenal in Philadelphia and subsequent 3-0 victory over Manchester United in South Carolina hinted that Slot had the makings of a fine team. That belief only grew when Liverpool won their first three league games of the new campaign without conceding a goal, with their 3-0 dispatch of United at Old Trafford in September announcing Slot's side as genuine contenders.
But if a win at the home of Liverpool's historic rivals had the Reds soaring, his team's next league game -- a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at Anfield -- brought him firmly back to earth.
"I want to see the same attitude every single day: after a big win, after a small win, after a draw, after a loss," Slot said after the match. "It is just to go out to work again tomorrow, analyze what we did well and what we didn't do well."
Considering Liverpool went on a 26-game unbeaten run in the league, it's fair to say Slot had learned valuable lessons from the clash with Nuno Espirito Santo's side. Liverpool bounced back from that defeat with an impressive 3-1 road win to AC Milan in the Champions League before beating Bournemouth 3-0 to return to their winning ways in the top-flight.
But it wasn't until a five-day stretch in late November that the full extent of Liverpool's quality was laid bare in consecutive 2-0 victories over Real Madrid and Manchester City, two of the Reds' fiercest nemeses for much of Klopp's tenure.
Having failed to beat Madrid in six meetings under Klopp -- including in two Champions League finals -- Slot's Liverpool dismantled the European Champions, dominating possession and registering 17 shots on goal compared with Madrid's eight. They were similarly dominant against City, having 18 shots, including seven on target, throughout the game, compared with City's eight, with only two on target.
"When they beat United at Old Trafford, it was quite impressive," Doyle said. "But I think it was probably in that week when they played Madrid and City that you saw how good Liverpool could be. They'd already had some tough games, but to beat those two teams back to back, it's like everyone started to think, 'You know what, this could be something special.'"
One of the key factors behind Liverpool's eye-catching form was the noticeable improvement of several key players. Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo both made an outstanding start to life under Slot up front, while defensively, Ibrahima Konaté raised his game after a disappointing end to last season. But it was midfielder Ryan Gravenberch -- signed by Klopp from Bayern Munich in summer 2023; he muddled through his first season in the Premier League -- whose transformation was the most profound.
"We are God-believing people, and we think God sent Arne to us and to Liverpool," the 22-year-old's father, Ryan Gravenberch Sr., told ESPN in November. "Obviously, he's Dutch, so when he explains something to Ryan, he can understand it very clearly.
"He communicates superbly. The main thing he's said to Ryan is: 'I'm going to play you and so it is on you to maintain playing.' He was very clear about that, and that has worked for both sides."
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Gravenberch was largely a fringe player under Klopp and could have fallen further out of favor at Anfield had Liverpool been successful in their pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi last summer. Having failed to land Zubimendi, Slot and sporting director Hughes put their faith in Gravenberch rather than scouring the transfer market for an expensive alternative; a decision that was very quickly vindicated.
Having started just 12 league games last term, playing a total of 1,121 minutes, Gravenberch has been an ever-present in Slot's team, starting all 34 league games this season and racking up 2,928 minutes in the top-flight.
It's not just those players on the fringes of the squad who have excelled under Slot. Experienced stars Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have both enjoyed standout seasons, with the latter having a staggering 32 goals and 23 assists in all competitions this term. Van Dijk has been similarly imperious, playing every minute in the league this season, and it is significant that both he and Salah have committed to new two-year deals at Anfield this month, citing their belief in Slot's project as a key aspect in their decision-making.
"I've been very impressed with him," Van Dijk said after Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Leicester. "I think, since Day 1, the conversations that I had with him, the demands he has for the team and obviously for me as well, there's a lot of credit to be given to him. We also shouldn't forget that we already were a team that were fighting up until April last year, so we had the quality. We couldn't finish it off, and this year ,we have found that next level in terms of consistency and finding a way.
"The staff deserve all the credit as well. Coming from Holland, to adapt so quickly, to improve so many players, giving confidence in the way we play without a proper preseason as well and without signings really."
Slot's achievements this season are even more impressive because he has not yet chosen the players. Liverpool signed just two players last summer; forward Federico Chiesa in a £12.5 million deal from Juventus and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in an initial £25 million transfer from Valencia. The latter has remained on loan at the LaLiga club this season, while Chiesa has played just 33 minutes in the Premier League.
With both Slot and captain Van Dijk having hinted that a big summer lies ahead at Anfield, there is a chance that Liverpool's starting XI next term could look markedly different from the one which has carried them to a 20th league title.
Certainly, there is plenty of room for improvement. Liverpool's dip in form last month -- which saw them crash out of the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain and lose the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle United -- was instructive in highlighting the team's deficiencies, with reinforcements at left back and a new center-forward ranking highly on the club's summer shopping list.
One of the few criticisms leveled at Slot this season has been his reluctance to rotate, with midfielder duo Harvey Elliott and Wataru Endo -- who both played major roles under Klopp last term -- yet to start a league game under their new head coach. Only Nottingham Forest (23) have used fewer players than Liverpool (24) in the Premier League this season, and there have been occasions in recent months when the Reds looked to be crying out for fresh legs and sharp minds.
To put into context the scale of Slot's reliance on a small crop of trusted players, he has named his most-used starting XI seven times this season. By contrast, Klopp's most-used XI started only five matches together in his nine years with the club. The task for Slot this summer will be identifying players he believes can complement his current squad and be trusted to play in the biggest games.
"What Slot has proven is that he can be a coach of good players, even if they're not necessarily the ones that he might want in some positions," Doyle said. "In that respect, even if you take out the fact that he's replaced someone like Klopp, that is a massive achievement. Before this season, Liverpool had only won the league once in 34 years, so it's certainly up there with one of the best debut seasons we've seen from any Liverpool manager."
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On his way to securing the Premier League title, Slot has broken many records. With a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in November last year, Slot became the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first 10 league games. In avoiding defeat in 24 matches from September to January, Liverpool recorded their longest unbeaten run in a season, while Slot's 50th game in charge -- the 2-1 victory over West Ham United earlier this month -- registered his 36th win in charge of the Reds -- more than any other manager in Liverpool's history.
"Some people talked about Klopp being in the same realms of Bill Shankly because of everything he brought to the club," Josh Sexton, presenter of The Anfield Wrap, told ESPN. "There were a few of us who hoped that Slot could be the Bob Paisley to Klopp's Shankly. Even saying that, it was hard to imagine that actually being the case, but I'd argue that's exactly what Slot's done.
"He's come in, and in a very quiet, assured way, he's managed to make Liverpool an incessant winning machine, and I believe he'll continue to build on that going forward."
In delivering the Premier League title, Slot has entered the pantheon of Liverpool greats. But what's next?
The Reds have already been boosted by securing stalwarts Salah and Van Dijk for another two seasons. There is money available to fund a busy summer in the transfer market, which could be key if Liverpool harbour ambitions of maintaining their crown and challenging for the Champions League. Quality is needed at left back and up front, with depth also helpful for a midfield that has enjoyed little rest all season.
But the big change is this: Though Slot wasn't expected to win the league this season, fans will expect his team to be in the mix next term.
The pressure is on. But, time and time again, Slot has shown he can handle it.
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