By Opta Analyst | Created at 2024-11-18 20:48:17 | Updated at 2024-11-25 11:25:15
6 days ago
Having beaten Brighton 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday, Arne Slot achieved something no other Liverpool boss in history has managed.
After replacing Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, Arne Slot knew he would have his work cut out to live up to the legacy of his German predecessor.
It would have been impossible to do so after just 10 league games, but Slot has made an impressive start to life at Anfield, and now he has a notable record that he can call his own. Not only has he achieved something Klopp didn’t, but indeed, no previous Liverpool manager has.
With their 2-1 home win over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, Liverpool racked up their eighth win from their first 10 Premier League games this season (D1 L1). Slot’s eight wins are the most by a Liverpool boss in their first 10 top-flight games in charge of the club.
Slot arrived from Feyenoord in the summer, and despite noting several times how difficult he knew every single game in the Premier League would be, he doesn’t seem to be finding it all that hard.
The Dutchman has masterminded wins over Ipswich Town, Brentford, Manchester United, Wolves, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Chelsea and now Brighton, while the only dropped points came in a home defeat to Nottingham Forest and last week’s draw at Arsenal.
That would be an impressive achievement with any club, but to do so at one as decorated and storied as Liverpool must make even the biggest cynic take note.
The red half of Merseyside has had some iconic managers in its time. Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Gérard Houllier, Rafael Benitez, Klopp; none of them managed to win as many as eight of their first 10 league games, or even seven.
It is a lesser-known name, William Connell, whose record Slot has beaten. Connell won seven of his first 10 top-flight games in charge over 100 years ago (D3), with his team scoring 17 goals and conceding just five.
Slot’s Reds have won eight, drawn one and lost one, scoring 19 goals and conceding six.
Six of Liverpool’s previous managers won six of their first 10 top-flight games: David Ashworth, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Houllier. The presence of Souness in that list could serve as a slight warning to Liverpool fans given the Scot, while a legendary player for the club, didn’t exactly work out as manager, though he did win the FA Cup in 1992.
In fact, making a good start doesn’t seem to have been all that important for some of Liverpool’s most iconic managers. Shankly might still be considered the club’s greatest ever in the dugout after turning a second-division side into a “bastion of invincibility” between 1959 and 1974. He did manage to get Liverpool to the First Division in 1962, but won only three of his first 10 games in the top flight (D3 L4). Only Rodgers (W2 D5 L3) and the club’s first ever manager William Edward Barclay (W1 D4 L5) won fewer.
The figure many fans consider to be Liverpool’s best manager of the modern era, Klopp, must have done better though, right? Well, yes, but not by much.
Klopp arrived two months into the 2015-16 season to succeed Rodgers but won just four of his first 10 Premier League matches (D3 L3). His record was only slightly better than that of Roy Hodgson (W3 D3 L4), who was sacked as Liverpool boss in 2010 after just 20 league games in charge. Of course, Klopp’s fortunes improved greatly in subsequent years.
The big question is can Slot follow in Klopp’s footsteps in the long term? That won’t be answered for a while longer, but for now, things are certainly looking promising.
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