Journalist claims Liverpool boss Arne Slot will win the ‘battle of the Dutch coaches’ against Erik ten Hag
According to Dutch journalist Marcel van der Kraan, Arne Slot has all the ingredients to excite Liverpool fans next season and exceed the exploits of his compatriot Erik ten Hag, who has recently been confirmed to be staying at Manchester United.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Van der Kraan had nothing but praises to heap on the former Feyenoord manager.
“He’s [Slot] also got very fresh ideas and maybe even excels [Erik] Ten Hag in his ideas of attacking football.
“He is closer in his thinking to Pep [Guardiola]. I’m not saying he’s on the same level, I don’t want Liverpool fans to think, ‘Oh Marcel’s telling us we’re getting Pep 2.0.’
“But I’ve never seen a game of him where he played one minute defensive football, or where he wanted his team to defend something, it’s actually been mind blowing what he’s done in Holland.
“I’m not saying that he will be in England but in Holland, he’s the most entertaining coach I’ve seen over the last 35 years. I actually think that, apart from Pep of course in the same city, Arne Slot could be Erik ten Hag’s biggest rival when it comes to competing for places in the Champions League next season.”
When asked about whether or not Slot would be better than Ten Hag has been at United, Van der Kraan was straightforward in his response.
“Yes.
“His football… like [co-host Simon Jordan], I’m a fan of the 70’s, I loved Holland in the 70’s, 1974, 1988, Ruud Gullit, Arnold Muhren, you mentioned earlier in the break, the cross to [Marco] van Basten, we had great players.
“But they all wanted to play really Dutch, flowing football and this is what you want from coaches, that’s how you want them to play.
“And if Arne Slot will do what he’s done so far in his career in the Netherlands, how he turned Feyenoord around from like a hard-working port workers’ club into a flowing football machine…
“What I wish, without being biased on Arne or Erik, I wish that Liverpool fans will get that because it will show a bit of colour for the Dutch again, what our coaches can do.”
Slot arrived at Feyenoord at the start of the 2021/22 season, when Ten Hag’s Ajax were dominating the Eredivisie, after spending just one year as the head coach of AZ Alkmaar. Going toe-to-toe with the to-be Man United manager right away, Slot ushered in a golden three-year period for the Rotterdam club, which saw them win the league in 2022/23 and the KNVB Cup in 2023/24, while also finishing runners-up in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Slot’s Liverpool’s first game of the 2024/25 Premier League season is scheduled to be away at the newly-promoted Ipswich Town.
Easier said than done
Jürgen Klopp has left Liverpool as an era-defining coach. Anyone succeeding such a monumental figure will find things hard; just ask those who have had to do the same at Arsenal and Man United in the past decade.
For all the excitement his football may bring, Arne Slot will be handed the same bottom line as the rest of the managers: get results or bust. Just think about the perception Ten Hag’s Ajax had and the one his current United side got. It can all change so quickly.
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The onus is now on the Liverpool hierarchy to have a productive summer and provide their new manager with as many tools at his disposal as they can so as to make the transition somewhat easier.
