Liverpool might have been knocked out of the FA Cup this season, but Arne Slot could still win three pieces of silverware. His side is 13 points clear in the Premier League, has reached the Carabao Cup final, and faces PSG in the Champions League next.
That would be a big achievement in any season but the additional context that he only arrived to take over from Jurgen Klopp last summer certainly makes it even more impressive. Slot has so far appeared to be the perfect fit at Anfield and while he inherited a strong roster of players, no one knew for sure how things would pan out.
Manchester City has tailed off significantly but Slot has got the most from the players he has. He has brought more out of the likes of Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch and managed the Reds' injury situation well.
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Gary Lineker, though, while looking at the contrast to how Manchester United moved beyond Alex Ferguson in 2013, was keen to give Klopp a lot of credit too. Quite rightly, it is worth pointing out just how good a situation the German left behind for the next person through to the door to take to the next level.
"If you look at Liverpool now, they’ve got a new manager in Arne Slot, and it’s a testament to how Jurgen Klopp left the club in a really good state, so the structure is really good," Lineker said on Match of the Day.
"That probably wasn’t the case at the end of Sir Alex Ferguson's [time at Old Trafford]. I know they won the league that season, but it wasn’t their best side, and a lot of their great players were coming to the end of their careers. I think from there they had problems."
While Manchester United had come to the end of a cycle and needed to rebuild, more than a decade on from Ferguson leaving, it still remains in a state of disrepair. It is arguably now further away than ever from winning the Premier League title under Ruben Amorim.
At Anfield, though, Klopp left Liverpool when the Reds were on the up. There is still more work for Slot to do, but the signs so far have been that he is the perfect person to have taken on the mantle.
Liverpool.com says: Slot has done really well so far and should win the Premier League from this position. The most exciting thing, though, is that there is more to come. In the summer, when Liverpool has signed a couple more players, it should be able to kick on — as long as the key contract situations are sorted out and Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk don't leave.
