It should go without saying that Jurgen Klopp handed the Liverpool reins over to Arne Slot with the club in excellent condition.
The German tactician had overseen a 2023 summer overhaul of the midfield department that plugged major gaps following the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo came through the door, though the latter has since fallen under harder times under the new regime.
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Since that point, Liverpool’s Dutch midfielder has reached remarkable new heights in the No.6 role and the Reds sit at the top of the Premier League leaderboard ahead of the October international break.
The signs, so far, have been encouraging.
Arne Slot has significantly improved Liverpool’s defence
Quality of the opposition aside, it shouldn’t be understated that Arne Slot has calmly masterminded a terrific start to the 2024/25 campaign.
10 games, nine wins — and just the two goals conceded in the Premier League (BBC Sport) so far. You could argue it should only be one given the ludicrous nature of the mix-up between Alisson Becker and Ibrahima Konate that prompted Wolves’ equaliser in September.
Regardless, Liverpool have the best defence in the English top-flight by a country mile. Only Tottenham and Nottingham Forest come close (5).
It’s worth pointing out, of course, that by this point in time under Jurgen Klopp in 2023/24, we’d faced Chelsea (A), Newcastle United (A), Aston Villa (H) and Tottenham (A). Only seven league goals were conceded ahead of a matchday 8 trip to Brighton.
Our former beloved German manager definitely got the raw end of the deal, but let’s not pretend that trips to Old Trafford and Selhurst Park are danger-free. We still had to go out and get the points.
Our Dutch head coach absolutely deserves credit for that, not least of all for transforming Ryan Gravenberch into a kind of all-rounder-holding midfielder. The former Bayern Munich flop is constantly winning duels and enabling Liverpool to progress through the lines – his newfound importance shouldn’t be played down.
There will be bigger tests than clashes with Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace. For the time being, however, we’re sitting pretty at the top of the table entirely on merit.