As Arne Slot was announced as Jurgen Klopp’s successor from next season, a look there at a few of the challenges the new boss will face upon arrival and what the most important objectives are that he must achieve to meet the clubs’ expectations.
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00:00 So, Will, starting with Arne Slott at Liverpool, obviously announced by Jurgen Klopp unofficially on the final day on the pitch. Quite a nice moment for him and the Liverpool fans, though. In terms of his challenges coming in, we've spoke about how much of a massive, massive job it is to continue Liverpool's success. They don't want to go back down to that sort of Brendan Rodgers era where they sort of fell down a little bit. You know, they want to make sure they're still competing.
00:29 What are his biggest challenges when he first comes in?
00:33 Yeah, that is it. You're precisely right. It's maintaining, at a minimum, what Jurgen Klopp's achieved. And that ultimately is qualify for the Champions League every season, compete for trophies.
00:43 You have to judge Arne Slott the same way that you judge Jurgen Klopp, because Arne Slott comes in and inherits a completely different set-up to Jurgen Klopp.
00:53 You know, Jurgen Klopp's restored Liverpool's position at the top table in Europe for what he's achieved, and Arne Slott's got a lot going for him now.
01:02 And yeah, as you say, that's his biggest challenge. But in terms of on the pitch, you'll have to sort out Liverpool's defence, because towards the end of the season it was porous.
01:13 I think they went about 10 games out conceding a clean sheet, and then on the final day they got one against Wolves, and they just conceded too many goals.
01:22 You look at Arsenal, their defensive record was magnificent throughout the season. The chief reason why they managed to push Manchester City all the way to the final day in the title race.
01:32 So Arne Slott's got some things that he needs to tweak, and whether that's changing the centre-back partnership maybe, because I think maybe a centre-back is mooted to come in.
01:44 Maybe that's getting a proper right-back in and moving Trent Alexander-Arnold to midfield. Maybe that's getting a new defensive midfielder in, and dovetailing with Guataro Enzo, because Alexis McAllister plays a lot of games in that role.
01:56 But we've seen that he's better in a more advanced position. So certainly that's the main thing that they have to look at.
02:05 And then maybe it's just about how Liverpool can maintain a Premier League title push and a Champions League push as well, and then all the cups as well, and keeping the squads well-balanced and happy.
02:20 Because that's something that Jürgen Klopp managed to do. He always managed to get the best out of the fringe players.
02:25 When they came in and cut competitions in the early rounds, they always delivered.
02:29 He only had to look in the past few seasons, and he won two League Cups and an FA Cup. And that was because, mainly largely because of the squad players who did a job in those early rounds especially.
02:40 And Arnold Slotts is going to have to do that himself. He's going to have to keep the whole squad happy.
02:44 The players who aren't playing maybe week in, week out on the more prominent games, to keep them ready.
02:49 Because of this squad game in Liverpool, he's going to have a lot of fixtures coming, and maybe more so than he's faced to fire. And also that's a big challenge in itself.
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