Could there be a more perfect setting for Arne Slot when he walks onto the dugout at Anfield on Sunday? His club are at the top of the English Premier League table and the best possible team to consolidate on that success land at your doorstep. Many may bill this as a Liverpool vs Manchester United clash, alluding to all that pomp of two of England’s most decorated clubs going against each other. But a far truer characterisation would be to call a spade a spade and term this clash as a table topping team going up against a relegation threatened club in its lowest ebb.
Transitions in football can be brutal. Manchester United have yet to recover from the loss of Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill, two figures who maintained the club through a time of excess and then through a time when they transitioned into a club of restraint. Liverpool on the other hand, face no such issues when replacing Jurgen Klopp. Part of it is based on the club’s structures remaining largely the same, but a lot of it is down to Slot.
Slotting in perfectly
Many expected the going for Slot to be tough when he joined Liverpool. The constant battles with Manchester City and the rise of Arsenal as a contender left Liverpool in a place they haven’t been used to this past decade. But the one thing that the German had left behind was the core of a top team. And unlike David Moyes’ entry into Manchester United in 2013, Slot decided to not change much.
By not messing with Klopp’s legacy – a team of Salah, Van Djik and Trent – Slot showed that he was willing to not build a team in his image yet, but rather build on what remained at the club.
The Gravenberch example
Take the case of Ryan Gravenberch. The Dutch midfielder found it hard to make it onto the final XI of a Klopp team but is unquestionably the heart of this Liverpool team. He takes away the one issue that championship-winning teams can struggle towards the end of their era – legs.
The drive that he brings to the team, where he picks the ball in the midfield and takes it forward is crucial for the health of any Premier League club and the Dutch midfielder runs that mantel at Liverpool better than any other midfielder does for their club at the Premier League this season. He is a clear sign that Slot not only recognised what Klopp’s work was, but how it could be improved, without tearing the house down.
Amorim under pressure
For Ruben Amorim though, the same situation does not apply. Nothing spells crisis like admitting Manchester United might be in relegation form, while also publicly handing Harry Maguire a contract extension, all in the space of a week.
The Premier League is a giant meat mallet if you’re Ruben Amorim. Brought in by Sir Jim Ratcliffe as an answer to what ails United, the Portuguese system aficionado has been whacked about across England, losing five of his last six Premier League games and seven points off the bottom three. It’s been a question of choosing what’s best for United now vs what’s best for United moving forwards and Amorim has chosen to stick to his guns. Many feel that Erik Ten Hag’s exit was due to a rush of pragmatism that didn’t address the core issues with the club.
Amorim had experienced a similar situation back at Sporting when the club initially struggled to offload players on inflated salaries who weren’t up to the mark in his system. At that point, he stuck to his guns and changed the course of that ship, but United and the constant eyeballs around every misstep of the club, is not an atmosphere conducive to an idealist in a world screaming for pragmatism. Yet Amorim, whose shoulders have gone from proud and upright to slouched and anchored to the ground, continues to live by his methods, even hinting that if he changes now, it’s tantamount to his death at the club.
Structural imbalance
The one reality of the Premier League for top tables is that if a club doesn’t make wise investments when it comes to players and staff, then there really isn’t much that a coach, however great, can work with.
Manchester United, under Ratcliffe, are attempting to make moves in the backroom that can solidify the decisions made in terms of managers and players. But in a league where breathing room is rare, they are now being hounded into either losing, and losing to such an extent that relegation might be a possibility, or choosing to steady their ship now but miss out on the port they want to land at.
Meanwhile Slot, working with a solid structure underneath him, can’t get a step wrong. Even his handling of the contract situation of Salah, who in his desire to land one last big contract with Liverpool, has been coaxed into a 30 Goals/Assists season before the start of the year, shows just how right Liverpool got it with him and crucially, just how right Slot got it with taking the plunge with Liverpool.
When the Merseysiders walk out onto the pitch at Anfield on Sunday, it will be reminiscent of older times when they used to run England and the Mancunians were playing catch up. In that, there is a victory even before a whistle has been blown. Even an unlikely away win wouldn’t really change the reality of both teams – Liverpool continue to rise because the right decisions by the right people are made, while Manchester United remain in an era of flux where there are more misses than hits.
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