Former Liverpool coach Vitor Matos, who departed Anfield at the same time as Jurgen Klopp last summer, has heaped praise on the job that Arne Slot has done since the Dutchman arrived on Merseyside.
A handful of wins away from clinching the Premier League title, the transition from Klopp to Slot has been as seamless as it could have been. And Matos, who followed Pep Lijnders to Red Bull Salzburg but has since moved on from that role, has been following along to see how things have been going with his old side.
“What Arne did is outstanding, because it is not easy to replace Jurgen,” Matos told Training Ground Guru. “We tried to leave the club — and Jurgen left the club — in a really good moment. The idea was to leave the club in a better position than when he arrived.
“The squad we left, we all had a feeling it was a squad ready to win titles. They have an unbelievable team in terms of togetherness. But it’s not easy to come to Liverpool, a big club, and replace Jurgen, someone who was so loved by everyone. What (Slot) has done is exceptional, of course. The game quality and, at the same time, being able to win consistently and that is the most important thing.
“I think the triggers are changing, regarding who starts the press and who follows. Some dynamics were already there in the past, some were new, in terms of the positioning of the full-backs or strikers and the 10 sometimes as well, and even defending a little bit differently in terms of where the press starts on the pitch.
“Attacking wise, there are sometimes different starting positions for the full-backs, sometimes they start in deeper lines or facing the game close to the center-backs. Not in all the games — there were different approaches in different games depending on dynamics.
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“It’s not about being better or worse, but about doing things differently. This season they are having a lot of success, so this is good. The most important thing is that there is a clear idea, and this clear idea is possible to achieve with the squad he has and it is possible to have consistently good performance. That says a lot about Arne and a lot about the whole club on the moment as well.”
Matos also lifted the lid on what changes he has spotted with individual players this season. The most obvious is the emergence of Ryan Gravenberch as a world-class operator.
“You can see players in different roles and one of those is Gravenberch, who is doing an outstanding season as a number six,” Matos said. “That is something that completely improved by itself the offensive game, in terms of how the ball moves, how the ball breaks lines, and the direction he can give with one touch.
“Sometimes this kind of thing happens — a need creates an opportunity and this creates a beautiful idea. In the beginning of the season, everyone spoke about Liverpool needing to sign a number six, because there was no one. Alexis (Mac Allister) was coming back from the Copa (America) and Ryan grabbed the spot and grabbed it outstandingly.
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“That creates a different dynamic and different things. We never used Ryan in that position before, because Alexis and Wataru (Endo) were doing outstanding for us. Ryan arrived at the club having had almost one season without consistent game time, so it was not easy for him to adapt.
“We all saw his potential when we played against Ajax (in the Champions League in 2020), when he was there, and we were not able to catch him on that transfer window, so he went to Bayern (Munich). But we all — especially Jurgen and Pep — were big believers in him.
“We all saw his potential in terms of quality, so it was a matter of consistency and opportunity. This season, everything came together, and I’m really happy for him and for Liverpool.”
Liverpool.com says: Things couldn’t have gone much better for Slot, in truth. Gravenberch has been a revelation and it was unfortunate for the Reds to draw PSG so early on in Europe. Changes will come in the summer but there is a very strong base to start from.
