In a battle between two rising managerial stars, Arne Slot came out on top on Tuesday as Liverpool cruised to a 4-0 win over Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, extending his near-perfect start as Reds manager and setting the rest of Europe up the height.
At first the game was slow. Neither side had more than one shot on target in the opening 42 minutes, and neither side came close to achieving one expected goal at half-time. The game situation was clearly in Alonso’s favor. The defensive tone of the first half was no surprise to Slot’s defensively stable Liverpool, but Leverkusen have been porous at the back in Bundesliga play this season. Limiting Liverpool’s attack to 0.64 expected goals from nine shots would be a major statement, especially as Leverkusen chart their follow-up to last season’s historic double-winning campaign.
But in the end it was Slot and Liverpool who came out of the match with their own statement.
The Reds traded a tame first half for an intense second half and took the lead in almost every meaningful category after the break. While they ceded possession to Leverkusen in the first half, they had a slight advantage in the second half. Most importantly, they scored 3.49 expected goals from 13 shots in the second half – and scored four goals to back that up. Luis Diaz scored the first of his three goals in the 61st minute, while Mohamed Salah provided two assists and Curtis Jones impressed with a pair of goals of his own.
It was the most emphatic win of Liverpool’s season so far, although Slot showed some managerial ability over the course of the 90 minutes. The first half reflected the restraint that Slot’s Liverpool are known for, as well as the burgeoning habit of letting the opponent have the ball in high-profile matches. However, the change in tone at half-time was a new look for the Reds under the Dutchman, demonstrating their ability to respond to imperfect scenarios in matches and make the necessary adjustments to achieve a winning result.
Although hardly a job requirement at the time of his appointment, Slot’s tactical shift allowed Liverpool to resemble Klopp’s high-energy version of the team during his nearly nine-year spell in charge. However, Tuesday’s victory showed what the perfect follow-up act looks like despite the seemingly impossible task of succeeding a celebrated manager. While Slot’s personal preferences were visible, the fundamental tactical similarities he shares with Klopp were equally clear.
“I love the high press as much as Jurgen does,” Slot told CBS Sports after the win over Leverkusen. “I think that’s also one of the reasons why Liverpool, why [sporting director] Richard [Hughes] It occurred to me that our playing style was quite similar… Maybe with the ball, risk-reward, sometimes [I] wait a little longer before playing the ball in the back, but what we always want from our players is to put a lot of pressure on them.”
As for Alonso, his first full season as a manager in the Champions League – and his first among Europe’s elite since winning the Bundesliga – shows some room for improvement, especially as Leverkusen has now conceded 20 goals in 15 games this season. all competitions. . However, upward trajectories are not always in a straight line, and there is still little reason to cross his name off the list of the continent’s next great managers.
Slot has now claimed 15 wins in his first 16 games in charge of Liverpool, occupying top spot in both the Champions League and the Premier League. He is perhaps the rare example of a manager who barely missed a step in his first big job. He shows the tangible transformation of the Reds into a team of his own making, despite inheriting Klopp’s squad. On a day of lopsided Champions League victories, the fact that his Liverpool were on the right side of a big win – and that Real Madrid and Manchester City were on the wrong side – suggests that the elusive feeling of inevitable victory that was once associated those sides have now been shifted to Liverpool.