‘The problem is’ – Owen Hargreaves explains why he has doubts about Arne Slot joining Liverpool

With Jurgen Klopp vacating his role as Liverpool boss at the end of the season it’s expected that current Feyenoord boss Arne Slot will replace the German.

Slot has done a brilliant job with the Rotterdam-based outfit since becoming their manager in 2021 having won one league title and a Dutch cup.

The Dutchman has his side playing attractive and attacking football and you’d suspect that he’ll bring the same style of play to Anfield next season where he’ll attempt to build on the brilliant work Klopp has done in the last nine years.

Despite labelling the 45-year-old as a ‘top coach’ Owen Hargreaves is not sure that the former AZ Alkmaar boss will succeed in the Premier League if he does continue to play such an attacking brand of football.

“He is a top coach, he really is,” said Hargreaves on Premier League Productions (via The Boot Room). “Possession. They dominate the ball. He loves the high press and the high intensity. No doubt that he is a top coach.

“I just think coming from that league, we have seen it with Dutch managers coming over here, they find it very different. I think Liverpool deserve somebody that has been there and done it in and around this level. I think that was picked from the data. You look at the data from the way Arne Slot’s side play, it’s all really high possession and high press.

“The problem is, you aren’t going to have, you see with ten Hag at Manchester United, you aren’t going to have that over here. You need something a little different. If you play that way and that open, you see with Ange’s side at Tottenham, then you are going to get counter-attacked. I don’t think he can win the league playing that way. Yes, it’s a good style. Look at Ancelotti at Real Madrid, he finds a way and tweaks it. I find with young managers now, their philosophy is more important than what happens results-wise and that’s not right.”

With the brilliant work Klopp has done since joining the club in 2015 it’s going to be a difficult job for whoever comes in and occupies the Anfield hot seat from the summer onwards.

Slot’s Feyenoord play exhilarating football and it’s certainly exciting to see what work he can do with our current crop of players who look like they’ve hit a wall at the moment.

Whether he opts to bring a number of his own players in this summer or has the belief that he can get the likes of Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai performing at their best remains to be seen.

Klopp will forever be a Liverpool legend and it’s going to be hard to see him go but let’s look forward to the future under the Dutchman.