Arne Slot has been written off before.
Back in summer 2009, the manager of Sparta Rotterdam, Frans Adelaar, told reporters that Slot’s style had been ‘overtaken’ by younger, quicker midfielders.
The then 30-year-old, clinging on to a thinning head of hair and described by an analyst as Juffrouw Slot or ‘Little Miss Slot’ because of his physical shortcomings, was banished to Sparta’s reserves.
Slot was a former captain at Sparta, so this would be like Virgil van Dijk suddenly being told he was with the Under 21s next year.
The same reporters who had been taken aback by Adelaar’s comments sensed an opportunity for a headline and asked Slot for his reaction.
‘I am not going to be written off,’ he told them, defiantly. ‘I totally disagree with the manager. Coaches and the public have expressed doubts about me all through my 14-year career. But I am going to keep fighting.’
Arne Slot has come under pressure at Liverpool after a run of six defeats in seven matches
Back in his playing days at Sparta Rotterdam, Slot (left) was demoted to the reserves. He responded by building a new career and later led Sparta’s rivals Feyenoord to a league title
His fighting was done by moving to PEC Zwolle, where he would eventually take his first steps in management, then Adelaar took Sparta down and lost his job. A decade or so later, Slot pitched back up in Rotterdam to win the Dutch league title at city rivals Feyenoord.
He never changed his way of thinking about the game, sticking to the principles inspired by his idol, the great Johan Cruyff.
It proves how Slot can bounce back from accusations about his style being overtaken. Physicality back then, footballing style now.
For the first time in his coaching career, serious questions are being asked of the 47-year-old. He was sacked at AZ Alkmaar but that came only because of a fallout with the board after he had been flirting with Feyenoord, not due to his ability.
His Liverpool team have lost six of their last seven games. It is a run rarely seen in these parts, although Slot’s first-ever visit to Anfield – a scouting mission when Cambuur boss to consider youngster Pedro Chirivella for a potential loan in early 2017 – came when Liverpool had won one of their last 10.
The Reds are playing not like the formidable team that blew away everyone in their wake to become kings of England in Slot’s breathtaking first year, but a side that has never played together, one that is being bullied by the league’s ‘lesser’ lights.
Brentford and Crystal Palace are two supremely well-coached teams that deserve every plaudit they get. But last season, both would have been swatted away without a second thought by this team. Now, the Slot Machine is showing an error message.
It is also earning bad reviews from fans who once raved about the football on show at Anfield. ‘Teams have a certain playing style against us, which is a very good strategy,’ Slot said last week, of the frequent long balls that his team have faced from opponents looking to spin in behind their defence. ‘And we have not found an answer yet.’
For the first time in his coaching career, serious questions are being asked of Slot
The Liverpool dressing room was described as silent after the 3-2 defeat at Brentford last week
Worrying. The two Basque brains coming to Anfield this week, Unai Emery and Xabi Alonso, hardly set up their Aston Villa or Real Madrid teams like prime Stoke City, but they will know Liverpool’s weaknesses. Same for Pep Guardiola ahead of a trip to the Etihad Stadium next weekend.
So how will Slot put this right and steer Liverpool out of their current crisis?
‘He has never been under pressure before,’ came the reply from Slot’s homeland when we made enquiries this week to find out how he handles the heat on him. ‘Never ever.’
So no experience to fall back on. And, as those close to the squad have told us this week, there aren’t many obvious explanations for what is going wrong at a club that won its first five Premier League games of the season before losing the next four.
Last week at Brentford, the post-match mood was described as silent after a 3-2 defeat. Captain Van Dijk has tried to lift the troops but the latest slip-up left the squad shellshocked.
After testing the temperature of the mood in the camp, we racked our brains back to pre-season to see if there were any signs that such a slump was coming. And the answer is no, not really, Liverpool were sublime going forward on their tour of Asia in the summer.
Watching them train up close and personal, the main memory – aside from one of clothes being ruined by sweat in the 37°C searing heat of Tokyo – was a squad raring to go again, a team that were already kings of England with the added ingredients of a £446million summer spend about to be thrown in.
So yes, Liverpool’s run of defeats, with no clean sheets in their last 10 and very few pleasing performances, has come as a surprise. Slot himself sometimes seems despondent after the defeats, unable to put his finger on what is wrong.
Back in Tokyo in pre-season, there were no signs that Liverpool were on the brink of collapse
Curtis Jones (centre) and Virgil van Dijk (right) look shellshocked during the Reds’ 2-1 loss to Chelsea earlier this month
Following the first few losses, he talked about expected goals and chances created and how ‘fine margins’ dictated results. This week there were complaints about how his Liverpool squad lacks the depth of Manchester City, Arsenal or Chelsea.
‘I saw City’s line-up and they did not have one starter from the weekend but it felt like their best XI,’ he said when criticised over his Carabao Cup selection that saw him make 10 changes, and then fall to a 3-0 defeat by Palace. ‘Maybe that gives a bit of an insight.’
Insight, maybe, into how despite their summer splurge, Liverpool still look a couple of men light in their squad. When you spend £446m, though, moans about depth do not chime with fans or rivals.
Chucking the Carabao Cup is forgivable if you go on to win other trophies, maybe not so much when seven points behind in the league. Evidently, the Kop faithful are growing more frustrated with the manager who gave them so many unforgettable days last year.
‘It is a new one (Slot struggling),’ his close friend and Dutch football expert Marcel van der Kraan tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘But I am looking at him in every interview, and on the touchline, to try and discover if there is a change in his behaviour, character or actions.
‘I know him really well and I have to say, there is not the slightest change. He is calm, composed, absolutely not in panic mode, exactly how I know him. And I do not expect him to panic either, or to change.
‘This guy is so confident about what he is doing. This makes me think he will turn it around. I don’t have doubts. The only managers I know with the same self-confidence are Cruyff and Guardiola.
‘I worked (as a football writer) closely with Cruyff in the 1980s and 1990s and could not believe how cool he was under any circumstances. And all three… Cruyff, Pep, Arne, have this same style of football.
‘Slot is calm, composed, absolutely not in panic mode, exactly how I know him. And I do not expect him to change,’ says close friend Marcel van der Kraan
The Liverpool boss was criticised over his Carabao Cup selection that saw him make 10 changes and then fall to a 3-0 defeat by Crystal Palace
‘They love all this building up, tiki taka some call it, but lots of movement and high pressure. And all three of them have always realised you get punished now and again. A massive counter-attack defeat, exposed by the space behind the defence on the halfway line.
‘It happened to Cruyff with Ajax and Barca, it happened to Pep and it happened to Arne. Don’t forget Arne is a massive fan of the Cruyff school. They just accept these moments, however for Arne it is going on too long of course now. That is what makes it tense.
‘But he won’t change a thing.’
In many ways, that is admirable. Slot idolises Guardiola, whom he beat twice last year, and was baffled watching from afar when English pundits tore the Catalan apart in his first year on these shores for his football style, which at that point was foreign to the Premier League.
‘If he thinks he doesn’t need to teach tackling or one-on-one combat in training then he’ll be going back to Spain with his tail between his legs,’ Stan Collymore wrote in a newspaper column at the time.
‘If he thinks he’s going to turn up and outplay everybody in the Premier League, and that teams are going to let his Manchester City side have the ball for 90 per cent of the time and pass pretty patterns around them so they can get a result, then he is absolutely deluded.’
Slot will not change either stylistically or in terms of his man-management – but knows privately some minor tweaks are needed to get his team back on track.
He was asked for the reasons behind the slump yesterday and perhaps there were signs that it is getting to him.
Slot sometimes seems despondent after the defeats, unable to put his finger on what is wrong
He idolises Pep Guardiola, whom he beat twice last year, and was baffled watching from afar when pundits tore the Catalan apart in his first year on these shores for his football style
‘You don’t really help me,’ he told the assembled media. ‘(You ask me) “why, why, why?” And I give an explanation and people say I’m coming up with excuses.
‘So, maybe if you just look at all the press conferences I have given, I can come up with five or six reasons why we are not winning as much or losing as much as we do. But every time I say there are never enough excuses to have a run of form as we had now.
‘No matter if I could come up with 200 excuses, when you are Liverpool you cannot lose this many games.
‘I could come up with five or six other reasons but you will write it down and people will say it’s an excuse, which it isn’t because there’s never an excuse for five out of six defeats.’
Talk of ‘excuses’ was common at Slot’s press conference, where the Dutchman cut an agitated figure and sounded like a man who knows – for the first time in his career – that fans are on his back.
There are, of course, mitigating factors to this run. With a better conversion rate in front of goal, many of the losses would have been draws or wins. Injuries have played a big part, too, and confidence is an issue. How nice it would be to have your £125m striker fit.
But maybe too many cooks are spoiling the broth. The rebuild was needed, and several years in the making, but the new-look team has not gelled yet, and it’s not limited to the playing staff.
John Heitinga, one of Slot’s assistants last season, who left to take the top job at Ajax this summer, was a big loss from the coaching team. Players would often namecheck him as a reason for their success last year.
Injuries have hampered Liverpool, with £125million striker Alexander Isak among those currently sidelined
Another big loss is John Heitinga (centre), who left Slot’s coaching staff this summer to become head coach of Ajax
It’s still only five months since Slot led Liverpool to the Premier League title. And owners Fenway Sports Group remain full of confidence in him
Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, remain full of confidence in Slot. His agent, Rafaela Pimenta, has held talks over an extension on his deal which expires at the end of next season. After all, he won the Premier League in his first campaign – do not forget that.
FSG have a history of being hands-off with the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool when they are struggling and Slot’s main point of daily contact is sporting director Richard Hughes. Conversations have not changed just because of a poor two months.
Slot himself has not changed too much, either. When talking to the media he still comes out with witty one-liners and is very open when discussing tactics. He may seem a bit more frustrated at times, but who can blame him?
So back to summer 2009 and Slot being overtaken by more dynamic midfielders. Some may argue his playing style has been ‘found out’ now and overtaken by a more direct approach. But as he said back then: he will keep fighting, he won’t be written off, he will not change. One thing that must change, though, is Liverpool’s results.
