Reactions for Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s Premier League win
LONDON: With their 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday night, Liverpool matched Manchester United’s record of having won the top-flight title the most number of times, with both teams locked at 20 titles each. The win also meant that Liverpool manager Arne Slot became the first Dutchman ever to manage a team to the English Premier League title, and it also means that it’s the seventh time that a non-British manager has won the English Premier league title.
The 46-year-old has drawn praise from the football world for the historic title for Liverpool.
“I think they deserve great congratulations. I think it’s one of the great coaching performances that we’ve seen – to come in from Jurgen Klopp, to not get the players he wanted in the transfer window, to have the shadow of the three, probably the best players in their positions in Europe, hanging over him all season, you’ve got to hand it to him. It’s absolutely a brilliant achievement,” former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.
The Dutchman had taken over the role of Liverpool manager last year. This year’s Premier League title is Slot’s third major trophy as a manager. In 2022-2023, Slot guided Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title before the team won the KNVB Cup. Sunday’s win also meant that Slot became only the fifth manager to win the Premier League title in their debut season. Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte remain the other four managers to clinch the title in their debut season.
“For Slot to make the move to the Premier League, especially to a big club like Liverpool into the footsteps of Jurgen Klopp, I think no one expected him to actually do what he did with his staff and his players. In the beginning people were thinking someone’s coming in from the Mickey Mouse league, what’s he going to do at Liverpool but very soon he turned around the criticism with beautiful football, with charisma and I think everybody now sees what he’s capable of doing and the most interesting thing is probably still to come. I’m sure he’s not going to sit still. It’s strange to talk about when you’ve just won the league but I’m sure that in the back of his mind he’s already planning for next season,” former Liverpool midfielder Bolo Zenden told BBC Radio 5.
With four matches left to play in their campaign, Liverpool lead second-placed Arsenal by 15 points. If Liverpool maintain the points gap till the end, it will only be the fourth-biggest margin of title by a club in Premier League history.
Former Nottingham Forest manager Martin O’Neil praised the fact that Liverpool won the title with games to spare. “It was fantastic achievement by him, because they had the team but didn’t win the league, he didn’t make that many changes, must be difficult for players who have been loved by the manager beforehand – he has to make all of those changes and it’s not just at a small club, it’s at Liverpool as well. So, what he’s done has really been fantastic because from the outside it seems totally seamless. Their consistency this season really has been unbelievable in many aspects and he deserves all the credit in the world. It defies belief really because they won it with games to spare,” O’Neil told BBC Radio 5.
Agencies