Neil Mellor has voiced his disagreement with one oft-heard criticism of Arne Slot, with the Liverpool head coach coming beneath growing stress throughout a troublesome sophomore season.
The Dutchman stormed to the Premier League title throughout his first marketing campaign in cost at Anfield, however the Reds’ fortunes have since nosedived to the extent that hopes of retaining their crown had been realistically over by November.
Jermaine Pennant claimed final week that the 47-year-old now faces ‘added stress’ as a result of Actual Madrid’s latest sacking of Xabi Alonso, who’d been touted as a number one candidate to switch Jurgen Klopp in 2024 earlier than the job was given to the incumbent LFC head coach.
Mellor believes Slot deserves extra credit score
Mellor has defended Slot amid rising scepticism over the Dutchman’s reign as Liverpool boss, and he rejected the varsity of thought that he merely piggybacked on the work of his predecessor in profitable the Premier League final 12 months.
The previous Reds striker advised OLBG (by way of Liverpool Echo): “I don’t prefer it after I’ve heard individuals say Arne Slot received it with Jurgen’s staff. I utterly disagree with that.
“Arne Slot inherited an unbelievable squad of gamers indisputably, however he nonetheless needed to handle these gamers. He nonetheless needed to handle them and information them and tactically set them as much as win the Premier League.
“He put [Ryan] Gravenberch in a six; Jurgen Klopp by no means did that. He put [Luis] Diaz down the center as a 9; Jurgen didn’t try this. He needed to handle the Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Virgil van Dijk and [Mo] Salah contract scenario and show to them that he was adequate as a coach and a supervisor for them to remain at Liverpool. If he wasn’t, they don’t keep, and it unsettles Liverpool’s season.
“Liverpool received the league with all that occurring within the background. Liverpool at all times needed to transfer on, and to maneuver on so rapidly and win one thing so rapidly with Slot was sensible, however can that occur each season? No, I don’t assume it may possibly.”
Slot excelled final season, however the goodwill isn’t everlasting
We totally agree with Mellor – whereas there’s no disputing that Klopp left Slot with some very strong foundations from which to construct (rather more so than when the German took cost in 2015), the Dutchman nonetheless needed to cope with the burden of following an illustrious predecessor.
He struck the right steadiness of implementing efficient tweaks (e.g. Gravenberch in a deeper function) with out completely ripping up what had labored properly earlier than his arrival, and it labored spectacularly as Liverpool romped to the Premier League title with 4 matches to spare.
The ‘Klopp’s staff’ argument stems from every of final season’s common starters being in situ earlier than Slot, however the 47-year-old nonetheless wanted the buy-in from that group of gamers, while additionally navigating a lot discourse over the contract conditions surrounding three large names within the squad.
Whereas the Dutchman deserves each little bit of credit score for what he achieved in 2024/25, it doesn’t give him a free cross over what has gone flawed within the arduous ongoing marketing campaign, and the smattering of boos at Anfield after the 1-1 draw towards Burnley on Saturday summed up the discontent among the many fan base.
We’d nonetheless be in favour of giving him the remainder of this season to try to salvage Champions League qualificaition for Liverpool. If he fails in that mission, then the clamour for change might grow to be overwhelming.
You possibly can watch Slot’s full post-Burnley press convention beneath, by way of Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
