Arne Slot to Liverpool is example of EPL clubs wanting their coaches untainted
After spending 48 hours immersed in the world of Arne Slot, it is easy to convince oneself that Liverpool have identified football’s next super coach. A man operating at the tactical vanguard, an expert in man management, and a master of the media.
But listening to the praise from those who have worked with Slot, the mind was cast back to going through that same process not only with Ruben Amorim's admirers only recently, but also when delving into the record of Erik ten Hag prior to his arrival two years ago.
There were the stories of how he had transformed his previous teams, on and off the pitch. His open-door approach to management, his no-nonsense attitude that, given time, had led inexorably to success at Go Ahead Eagles, at Utrecht, and at Ajax.
Back then, Manchester United's choice came down to Ten Hag or Mauricio Pochettino. One had just won the Dutch title, the other had just won the French title. But the key difference in how the two men were perceived boiled down to just one thing.
Pochettino had worked in the Premier League before.
One might assume this to be a strength given the work that he had done at Southampton and Tottenham. Indeed, the biggest match of Ten Hag's career had been a Champions League semi-final against Pochettino's Tottenham - lost in dramatic circumstances.
But it was Pochettino who was tainted by the realities of the Premier League, an awareness that this was a coach who had already gone up against Pep Guardiola and the rest and come up just short. Ten Hag offered hope. He could be the guru, the man to change it all.
In psychology, it is known as shiny object syndrome. That concept came to mind when considering the list of candidates to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. After Xabi Alonso
Read on m.allfootballapp.com
