John Barnes claims 'incredible' Arne Slot has done something no Man United manager has managed since Sir Alex Ferguson
03/24/2025 03:00 PM
Despite recent disappointments, Arne Slot’s debut campaign at Liverpool couldn’t have gone much better.
On course to win the club’s second Premier League crown, the initial doubts surrounding Slot have since faded away.
Succeeding Jurgen Klopp is no mean feat, but the Dutchman has faced little problem in doing so, as shown by Liverpool’s smooth transition.
Fabio Capello recently praised Slot for how quickly he has transformed the Reds, something which has recently been echoed by former Liverpool star John Barnes.
John Barnes praises ‘incredible’ Arne Slot
Many would have expected Liverpool to suffer a small blip following Klopp’s Anfield exit, that however, hasn’t turned out to be the case.
Curtis Jones has highlighted Slot’s impact on the Reds first-team, with a number of Liverpool players improving since the Dutchman’s arrival.
Reds icon Barnes has since added to this high praise, highlighting Liverpool’s impressive transition under the former Feyenoord man.
Speaking after the Liverpool legends game versus Chelsea, Barnes claimed Slot’s Reds takeover has gone a lot more ‘seamless’ compared to other clubs – namely Man United.
“He has been incredible. We’ve seen when an iconic manager, be it Alex Ferguson, be it Arsene Wenger, left the club you could see that there’s been a dip. But at Liverpool, it’s been seamless, it would have been very easy for the players to take their foot off the gas and for us to be fourth or fifth and they could say it’s because Jurgen is not here.
“So as much as he’s been fantastic, I have to make special praise of the players who have taken on board what he wants because it would have been easy for them not to do that because if they didn’t win no one would have blamed the players as they will say it’s because of the manager.
“It’s a real accumulative factor of both the players and the manager Lots of managers have qualities, if you look at when Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, Mourinho is not a bad manager, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal.
“The fact is that the players and manager came together because they play for the football club and they respect the manager and the choice the club has made regardless of who it was. The players have to take a lot of credit but he has been incredible.”
Slot has proved Man United myth wrong
Having seen the likes of Manchester United fail to transition after the exit of an iconic manager, Slot has shown the footballing world you can move on if you get the appointment right.
Slot has of course inherited a far more talented Liverpool squad than the likes of David Moyes did at Old Trafford, but the Dutchman’s ability to transform the Reds should not be underestimated.
| Debut campaign stats | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points per game |
| Arne Slot (Liverpool) | 47 | 34 | 7 | 6 | 2.32 |
| Jose Mourinho (Man United) | 64 | 37 | 18 | 9 | 2.02 |
| Erik ten Hag (Man United) | 62 | 42 | 8 | 12 | 2.16 |
| David Moyes (Man United) | 51 | 26 | 10 | 15 | 1.73 |
| Louis van Gaal (Man United) | 44 | 23 | 11 | 10 | 1.82 |
The Liverpool first-team has problems to address this summer and it will be interesting to see how Slot gets on signing his own players rather than using those left by Klopp.
