Arne Slot has hit back at Wayne Rooney’s claim he does not have the right ‘aura’ to be Liverpool boss.
Former Manchester United and England star Rooney delivered a brutal assessment of Slot following the Liverpool manager’s struggles this season, having won the Premier League in his debut campaign.
Rooney suggested Slot lacks the charisma of his predecessor Jurgen Klopp, who also led Liverpool to the league title, as well as the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
‘I just don’t think, for Liverpool, he has that aura,’ said Rooney. ‘Maybe that’s because Liverpool have just come off the back of Jurgen as manager. It’s difficult for anyone to do that, but I just don’t think there is that aura about him.’
With Liverpool currently in sixth place in the table ahead of Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest, Rooney also claimed Slot will be sacked if he cannot lead the Reds to Champions League qualification this season.
Asked to respond to Rooney’s brutal criticism of him, the Liverpool boss said: ‘Comparing people with each other is something everyone has the right to do, but is that fair to compare people with each other?
‘We are all different. The only thing we have in common, Jurgen and me, is that we both won the league – and that’s not too bad, is it?
‘I think the more a manager wins, the more aura he has – that’s in general. I don’t know if you agree with Wayne Rooney by the way, but if this would be the general opinion, then I think people would probably tell you last season I had more aura than this season.
Arne Slot hit back at Wayne Rooney and pointed to his record at Liverpool
‘But maybe he’s the only one who has this opinion, I don’t know, you tell me. It’s the first time that I heard this, but I think it’s fair to say that Jurgen definitely has an aura.
‘I can talk about him, not about myself, but he definitely had that [aura]. But, a winning manager has an aura as well.’
Despite their struggles this season, Liverpool have lost just two of their last 14 league games and have hauled themselves back into contention for the Champions League places, with fifth place likely to secure a spot.
Slot knows Liverpool must maintain that new-found consistency between now and the end of the season to ensure they remain in the Champions League mix and he admitted the job of a manager is now harder than ever.
‘The moment you start to lose one or two games now, then there’s much more being spoken about it and much more emphasis on it,’ said Slot.
Slot celebrates with the Premier League title, won by 10 points in his first season at Anfield
‘So that makes it more difficult and I think the job, in my opinion, has become harder because of all the media attention. Yesterday I had to do something, today I have to do something.
‘To do this job for eight, nine, 10 years – Jurgen did so well, Pep [Guardiola] did so well, but the biggest accomplishment is maybe to do this job for 10 years, because it’s hard work, I can tell you.
Asked if a manager or head coach was still the most important person at a club, Slot said: ‘I’m not so bothered by who’s the most important and who’s not. I’m worried about the job I have to do.
‘I’m really happy that I’m a head coach, because if I have to do the contract negotiations, all these kinds of things and talking to agents, then I just said that I find my job takes a lot of time – let’s put it that way – and I wonder how it’s possible for one person to do both jobs.
‘I like to do what I’m doing now and that’s enough for me. It doesn’t matter who’s the most important person or not at the club. I think it’s always the owners isn’t it?
Former Manchester United forward Rooney shared his view on Slot on The Overlap this week
‘They have to hire the sporting director, they have to hire the head coach. If they make the right decisions, then there’s a better chance to be successful.’
Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by Forest at Anfield in November, but Slot said that was just one of many defeats that have been hard to take for the reigning champions this season.
‘We’ve had a few,’ said Slot. ‘Burnley felt really, really tough the 1-1. The Manchester City defeat felt really hard as well, because we played so well. We deserved so much more.
‘Which other ones did we have? The first defeat is always difficult, Crystal Palace away, if you’re waiting to score the second goal and then you concede the second goal in extra time of extra time.
‘Leeds was really tough, Bournemouth was really tough, all because it was in the last seconds of the games. Unbelievable. So sometimes being unlucky is hard, sometimes not getting what you deserve is hard.
‘We’ve hardly lost a game of football where you can accept, “OK, this one, this one is acceptable”. Maybe City away (a 3-0 defeat in November) that was probably the only one. That wasn’t nice to experience, but was what the one that was most deserved for us to move.’
