How Liverpool could play under Arne Slot next season and what three key changes may mean for stars’ futures at Anfield
TALK of Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Liverpool has dominated the closing weeks of the Premier League season.
But it now appears Feyenoord boss Arne Slot will be taking the reigns at Anfield from next season after the Reds agreed a £9million-plus compensation deal with the Dutch outfit.
Slot snubbed Spurs, hates defending and has a PASS named after him
By Dan King
LIVERPOOL managerial target Arne Slot was a good enough player to have a type of pass named after him.
But it is as a manager that the Feyenoord head coach is really making his mark.
Like another bald Dutchman, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, Slot earned his stripes bossing smaller sides before being given a chance at one of the Netherlands’ big three.
But the question Liverpool are pondering is whether Slot would make a better fist of running one of the biggest clubs in the world than Ten Hag so far has at Old Trafford.
Slot, 45, was certainly easier on the eye as a player than centre back Ten Hag.
“The Arne Slot Ball” was something he perfected as a silky No 10 – a back-to-goal, first-time, 180-degree spin and flick behind the defensive line for a winger to run on to deep in the opposition half.
Click here to read all about the incoming Liverpool boss.
The 45-year-old has been backed to guide Liverpool to English title number 20 by Netherlands World Cup icon Johnny Rep.
Slot will be leaving a successful spell in charge of Feyenoord, having turned down an offer from Spurs last summer, and he also impressed in his time at AZ Alkmaar.
While he is known for his trust in youth and commitment to attacking football, it still remains to be seen just how much he will look to change at Anfield.
From a tactical standpoint Slot tends to prefer to play in a 4-2-3-1 shape while Liverpool play a 4-3-3 system, though there is little difference between the two in terms of how they look in possession.
The biggest differences will be in recruitment and the kind of profiles who play in the system.
Below we have taken a look at three things we are likely to see from Slot’s Liverpool and look at what it could mean for the current squad.
Deep build-up
Slot is one of the new breed of coaches in football who favour an extremely deep build-up from the back involving the goalkeeper, defenders and two deep central midfielders.
Feyenoord can sometimes look like a 2-4 or 2-3 when building out from the back depending on the two midfielders, who have frequently been Mats Wieffer and Quinten Timber.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
The two central defenders will split out and give options deep, while the fullbacks usually push further forward to the same line as the central midfielders.
The two midfielders will then either be on the same line playing as a two or have one sitter with the other staggering and pushing higher.
Ball progression from these deeper areas tends to fall to the two central defenders, who are tasked with being comfortable on the ball and being able to make progressive line-breaking passes.
At Feyenoord this season we have seen Slot use David Hancko in this kind of role. At Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk tends to be the defender tasked with a similar role.
Van Dijk has the ability to effectively progress the ball and is comfortable in possession, though this is not as true in the case of Ibrahima Konate.
Consequently, Konate’s position may be under threat in the new system.
Liverpool go Dutch
WHO'S who in the Liverpool dugout next season.
Manager Arne Slot, 45
Slot has led Feyenoord for three seasons, wining the Eredivisie title in 2023 and the KNVB Cup in 2024.
A former footballer in Holland, he is known to be a perfectionist and favours attacking football like Jurgen Klopp.
Assistant manager Sipke Hulshoff, 49
Hulshoff currently serves as Ronald Koeman’s assistant manager with the Holland national team and also works alongside Slot at Feyenoord.
He has had two spells as manager at little-known Dutch side Cambuur.
Head of performance Ruben Peeters, 31
A former fitness coach at Genk, Peeters has been working with Slot at Feyenoord since 2021.
The Belgian has a Master’s Degree in Sports Sciences.
Chief analyst Etienne Reijnen, 37
Former centre back who retired from football in 2020 to move into coaching.
In October 2023, Reijnen joined Feyenoord as assistant coach, to focus on analysing and providing technical advise to Arne Slot.
And this could result in 21-year-old Jarell Quansah being given the nod ahead of him.
However, it is more likely they will look to recruit for the position in the summer.
Importance of the midfield pivot
Perhaps the most important aspect of Slot’s system of play at Feyenoord is the midfield pivot, which refers to the two deepest midfield players in the system.
This season the responsibility has typically fallen to 24-year-old Wieffer and 22-year-old Timber to give the team the platform to build and move into the final third.
Arne Slot's record is WORSE than Erik ten Hag's
ARNE SLOT is set to be tasked with a near-impossible job – replacing Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Should he swap the Eredivisie for the Premier League, Slot will follow in the footsteps of fellow follically-challenged Dutchman Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag left Ajax to become Manchester United manager in 2022.
But he has suffered a nightmare spell at Old Trafford and appears to be a dead-man walking despite making the FA Cup final.
With Slot seemingly destined for Anfield, fans won’t be able to help but compare his record in Holland with Ten Hag’s.
And Reds supporters won’t like what they see.
See all the Arne Slot stats…
Players in this role need to be strong and disciplined in defence and have the ability to be create in the attacking phase while finding progress the ball from deeper positions.
For the most part Liverpool have played with a single pivot and this means it may take some time to adjust to a double pivot with the new angles and spacing.
While Wataru Endo has impressed as a single pivot at points this season, he may be the one to miss out if Liverpool transition to a two at the base of the midfield.
World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister is ready made for this role, while Conor Bradley‘s emergence at right-back could finally see Trent Alexander-Arnold completely moved into centre-midfield.
Alexander-Arnold moved from fullback to this role at the end of last season and the beginning of this season.
However, it might now be time for him to make the change permanently.
Regardless, it will represent a change for Liverpool.
And again it would not be a surprise to see Liverpool look to recruit a player to play in this role, possibly by snapping up Wieffer.
Final third creativity
Liverpool under Klopp have been famous for their use of a “inside forwards” in the wide areas with the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz proving incredibly effective.
This led to some very impressive goal scoring seasons but it worked for the most part because the central striker was told to drop deep and create space.
This season Liverpool shifted to play with the striker leading the line and staying as the highest player which could play into the hands of Slot due to his use of Santiago Gimenez in a similar role at Feyenoord.
This will, in turn, create space deeper with the wide attackers and the central attacking midfielder expected to come deep to receive the ball and then look to penetrate and attack into space.
Under Slot we can expect to see the wingers look to maintain wide positions as they stay on the outside and stretch the opposition.
This could have a direct impact on the future of Salah with interest likely to return from the Saudi league this could very well be the point in which Liverpool look to cash in on their attacking talisman.
The space created by the wingers staying on the outside can then be exploited by the 10 in the attacking midfield position, which could prove to work for Dominik Szoboszlai or even Cody Gakpo.
Indeed, this is one position Liverpool do already appear to have strength in depth.
The use of the three players behind the striker for Slot will be one of the biggest changes to the system of play that we have seen from Klopp from the last few seasons.
Stretching the pitch wide and using central players to create could well create more space for Darwin Nunez to thrive as the central striker.
Conclusion
Liverpool fans are going to have to get used to a new man in the dugout from next season and there is no doubt Klopp will leave a huge hole to fill.
With that said the system that Arne Slot prefers to play is flexible and effective and appears ready made to succeed on the European level and in the Premier League.
What they have said about Arne Slot
MATT WADE, head of sporting strategy at Feyenoord
“He is a brilliant communicator, and consultative, but also clear at the same time.
“He is quite cautious, quite introverted, but very rule based and principled, which means everyone knows where they stand.
“And he is not paranoid, which allows freedom for specialists to operate.”
SANDER WESTERVELD, former Liverpool goalkeeper and team-mate of Arne Slot
“When I played with Arne at Sparta, you could see that he would become a coach.
“He was a leader, a No10 midfielder and someone who would change tactics by himself.
“The job he has done at Feyenoord makes him the perfect fit for Liverpool.”
Dutch football journalist MARCEL VAN DER KRAAN
“I’ve followed Feyenoord for 40 years. Not since the days of Johan Cruyff at Ajax in the 1980s has there been a coach so attack-minded in the Dutch league.
“Cruyff only had a few disciples who followed him and one of them was Pep Guardiola.”
Arsenal star REISS NELSON who played 31 games under Slot on loan at Feyenoord
“I felt like Arne Slot is a great manager. He really got me into my rhythm.
“He gave me a lot of opportunities to play and I excelled.”