Why Slot's tactics and personality make him a perfect fit for Liverpool

Alex Keble profiles new Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, looking at the Dutchman's coaching journey, favoured tactics and personality. 

Liverpool have found Jurgen Klopp’s successor, which, to borrow a phrase, makes Arne Slot the chosen one: the man tasked with replacing a Liverpool legend who built the club in his image. David Moyes and Unai Emery know how that can go.

Liverpool are in a much better position than either Manchester United or Arsenal when they moved on from long-serving managers, of course, and yet by hiring Slot - unproven outside of the Netherlands - they are no doubt taking a gamble.

They are hoping that Slot’s brilliant record at AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord translates to the Premier League, even if UEFA ranks the Netherlands as the sixth-best league in Europe.

And they are betting on Slot’s “crazy, sexy football", (as it was recently described by Dutch football journalist Marcel van der Kraan to Sky Sports) picking up where Klopp left off, despite his tactical approach sharing more with Pep Guardiola than the current Liverpool boss.

Nevertheless, Slot is a hugely admired coach with all the tools to be a success at Anfield. Here’s a look at what he could bring to Liverpool.

Progress at Alkmaar, titles at Feyenoord

The 45-year-old former midfielder has only had three managerial posts. He was a big hit in all three.

Appointed joint-head coach of second-tier side SC Cambuur in October 2016, Slot oversaw a climb from 14th to third in his only season in charge and a run to the semi-final of the Dutch Cup for the first time in the club’s history.

His next head coach role came two years later when he took over at AZ Alkmaar for the 2019/20 season. AZ were joint top of the Eredivisie with nine matches left to play when the pandemic struck and the campaign was abandoned.

That dream debut season cancelled, things fell apart after Slot agreed to join Feyenoord, although he still left AZ with a higher points-per-game average (2.11) than any manager in the club’s history.

And what followed was Slot’s biggest achievement by far.

In 2020/21, the year before his arrival, Feyenoord had finished 23 points behind winners Ajax and as close to the bottom three as the top.

Two years later they were champions for the first time in six seasons.

Slot has not successfully defended his crown in 2023/24, but that is down to PSV Eindhoven’s remarkable recovery more than anything else. Feyenoord actually won 84 points this season, more than in their 2022/23 title-winning campaign, when they picked up 82. 

Slot’s tactics are more Guardiola than Klopp

“I certainly don't want to compare myself to Pep, but he is a control freak just like me,” Slot told Voetbal International in May 2023.

“Manchester City - and again it is not my intention to compare us with them - have a similar style of play to how we want to play with Feyenoord: 4-3-3, building up from the back, wanting to apply pressure quickly.”

Slot’s high-energy, hard-pressing and possession-centric attacking tactics will be familiar to all Premier League fans. He is well aligned with the tactical fashion of the day, but more similar to the trendsetter Guardiola than the more maverick Klopp.

The stats bear this out.

His Feyenoord side have amassed 148 “build-up attacks", the exact same number as Liverpool, but Slot’s side have made 72 “direct-attacks”, whereas Liverpool have made 99, considerably more and top of the Premier League charts.

Feyenoord & Liverpool attacks comparison

This neatly captures the more measured and possession-based approach of Slot compared with Klopp, as does analysis of their respective passing numbers.

Liverpool have completed the second-most long passes in the Premier League, with 1,638, whereas Feyenoord have completed 1,258, the second-fewest in the Eredivisie.

And when you think of Liverpool’s long-balls, you think of those raking diagonal switches, which are another point of difference to the Guardiola-inspired Slot. Liverpool rank second for diagonal switches, with 132, while Feyenoord are rock bottom in their league, on 57.

Feyenoord & Liverpool passing comparison

 More retro Pep than Guardiola now

Slot once said Guardiola teams represent the “ultimate joy in football,” and that “there is no team in the world I would rather watch than Manchester City.”

He might have been referring to a previous incarnation of Man City.

Slot’s aggressive, front-foot attacking football has a heavy focus on utilising the wingers to attack from out wide, creating opportunities for cutbacks while stretching the opposition defence – which brings to mind the days of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and City’s 2017/18 100-point season.

Feyenoord rank second in the Eredivisie for attempted take-ons, with 777, whereas both Liverpool and Man City are way down the list in England.

Feyenoord, Man City & Liverpool take-ons comparison

They are also joint-top for offsides (68), which suggests a willingness to slip runners in behind and speaks to their wing play, again evoking the older Man City.

Slot’s aggressive pressing, and youth focus, is pure Klopp

Perhaps the most instantly recognisable feature of Slot’s football – and surely the trait that caught Liverpool’s eye – is his ultra-aggressive, ultra-intense pressing.

“When we don’t have the ball, we want to win it back as quickly as possible by being aggressive and pressing to win back possession,” Slot has said.

That, quite clearly, is more Klopp than Guardiola, and a very good fit for the heavy-metal, gegenpressing Liverpool who have re-emerged in a somewhat wild form this season.

Passes per defensive action (PPDA) is the best measure of pressing intensity, and Feyenoord’s number this season is 10.1, not only the second-lowest in the Eredivisie, but third even among English clubs, behind Liverpool (8.9) and Tottenham Hotspur (8.8), and much lower than Man City’s 12.0.

But even when he’s more Klopp-like, Slot, once again, is channelling the old Guardiola.

How Man City and Feyenoord compare

Feyenoord are also top of the Eredivisie charts for final-third tackles (93) and have scored 11 times from high turnovers, which is more than anyone in the Eredivisie or Premier League.

But to really illustrate just how high and hard Feyenoord press, since 2020/21, when Slot joined Feyenoord, they have completed virtually as many shot-ending high turnovers (259) as any side in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues. 

Feyenoord also rank fourth for possession won in the final third over the same period.

It’s noteworthy that Liverpool are second in the table above and fourth for shot-ending high turnovers, with 182.

So, when it comes to off-the-ball tactics, Slot will continue Klopp’s work.

Slot’s personality and player development are a good sign

“As well as being an absolutely excellent coach, he’s also eloquent, funny and clever,” Feyenoord correspondent for Voetbal International, Martijn Krabbendam, told the i. “The press over here really like him – he gives straight answers and doesn’t play any games. He is himself in press conferences.”

It’s an opinion shared by many of Slot’s former and current players, and indeed his warmth is the key reason why the dressing-room invests in his ideas, working tirelessly for the demands of Slot’s all-out attacking and pressing game.

Understanding the culture of Liverpool, as a club and a city, was vital to Klopp’s success. Slot’s personality is a good fit, then, especially when it comes to investing in Liverpudlian talent.

Seven players aged 23 or under have started at least 10 Eredivisie matches for Feyenoord this season, which is no surprise considering developing young players is one of Slot’s strongest characteristics.

Since Slot’s arrival in 2021/22 Feyenoord have made a net profit on transfers of around £35million, and the biggest summer outlay in that time was around £31million. He has had no choice but to improve the players at his disposal.

That’s good news for Liverpool’s young squad, and particularly for the promising Academy products such as Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley and Bobby Clark.

The only drawback is his inexperience

“From Feyenoord to Liverpool is a huge jump,” Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports after the news of talks first broke. “I think it shows at this moment that there's probably a dearth of real top managers out there, when you look at who Liverpool are going for.

“I think it's a huge jump but he's obviously a great coach with a great track record so far. We'll see.”

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, and indeed Carragher captures some of the hesitation that comes with hiring a manager without any experience of a “Big Five” league.

The Premier League presents a unique challenge, tactically and psychologically. The quality of football is considerably higher and the glare of the spotlight is blinding at a club of Liverpool’s stature.

That “huge jump” was clear when Feyenoord crashed out of the UEFA Champions League group stages this season, finishing below Atletico Madrid and Lazio, winning only two matches and falling to a 2-1 defeat at Celtic.

A UEFA Europa League quarter-final appearance in 2022/23 and a UEFA Europa Conference League runners-up medal in 2021/22 tell us Slot doesn’t have a problem in Europe, rather the level of Dutch football is substantially lower than Europe’s best.

The step up to Liverpool, then, will be a culture shock.

Slot has the tactical acumen, the coaching skills and the track record to make a success of it.

But the Premier League is an unforgiving place, and Liverpool supporters only need to look across to Old Trafford – and the goodwill towards Erik ten Hag when he was plucked from the Eredivisie - to see what can happen when the theoretical hits cold hard reality.

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