Liverpool are just weeks away from the end of Jurgen Klopp’s time at the club.
We don’t yet know exactly when Arne Slot will first walk through the doors at the AXA Training Centre to replace Klopp, but it won’t be long.
In the lead-up to Slot arriving at Liverpool, plenty of takes have been offered over his impending arrival. Not everything written about the Feyenoord boss has been positive.
Nevertheless, Liverpool supporters will give Slot time to win them over. Adjustment is going to be needed at Anfield after nine years of Klopp, and Reds fans will afford their new man the grace of a settling-in period.
How long that lasts will be down to what happens on the pitch. But if Slot is to kick off his time at Liverpool on the right foot, former Reds defender Glen Johnson has some advice for him.
Glen Johnson gives Arne Slot advice
Johnson himself didn’t really have the best of settling-in periods at Liverpool. He struggled to get going in Rafa Benitez’s final year in charge.
Having then witnessed the failed appointment of Roy Hodgson, the former right-back is well-equipped to see what not to do as an incoming Liverpool boss.
And perhaps speaking from his own experience then, Johnson told Squawka that Slot simply has to get the Liverpool squad on board with him as soon as he can.
If he can’t do it, then the 39-year-old warns that it could be ‘over’ for the Dutchman within weeks.
“It’s important that he gets the boys on his side,” says Johnson. “He needs to get their attention, get their belief as soon as possible. Because if he hasn’t got that in four weeks, it isn’t going to work, maybe even less, maybe two weeks.
“They’re big characters. If he loses the dressing room in the first four weeks, it’s over. The players have to respect him and naturally, they will do. They’re all good guys.”
Arne Slot can learn from Roy Hodgson
There haven’t been any managerial reigns as disastrous at Liverpool as Hodgson. Having come in to replace Benitez in the summer of 2010, the veteran was gone by January.
Like Slot, Hodgson was following a hugely popular Champions League-winning manager at Anfield. Although Rafa was not quite as revered as Jurgen, the parallels are there.
Unfortunately for Hodgson, he did just about everything wrong. As Dirk Kuyt recently revealed, it seems that plenty of the players did in fact get along well with him, but he completely alienated the fan base.
The former Fulham manager also brought in far too many players who were below the level required. Hodgson made the error of not heightening his own expectations having joined a much bigger club than he was used to.
From Slot’s point of view, he can certainly look back and learn from this. Don’t make those same mistakes.