ARNE SLOT has carried himself superbly since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool — but dropped the ball big time this week.
The Reds boss has claimed that playing the best football in the land is worth more than silverware. Not at Liverpool.
Nor at Manchester City, Arsenal or any other club with ambitions of being serial winners.
Arsenal are on course to end a 22-year wait to win the Premier League this season but are being branded basic and boring. Will they care? Of course not.
Tottenham have spent more than a decade flapping over the style they play and look where that has got them. Slot has navigated an awful lot in fine fashion during his time at Anfield.
Taking over from Klopp, dealing with contract situations last year, a summer of huge spending and, of course, the death of Diogo Jota.
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He spoke intelligently and eloquently when dealing with all of that, but this is quite the misstep.
It may have something to do with coming from Dutch football, where style is everything.
But it is also indicative of a wider problem with managers — and football in general — at the moment.
So many coaches, not just Slot at Liverpool, now try and talk to fans, players, media, as if they are stupid.
They talk about vague stats and moments when we’ve all sat and watched a shocking performance.
How many managers are we watching now and thinking, ‘You don’t believe what you say, you’re bluffing’.
Whether that be players or managers, they’re all trying to basically lie to you and say, ‘No, no, what you’re seeing isn’t what’s really happening’.
They sell a dream that isn’t there, as if we’ve never watched the game or played the game or been involved.
They say it’s all about the process — aiming to get to some point in the distance over the coming years. I understand what Slot is talking about, but it’s tone deaf.
You can’t talk about processes when last year you won the title by TEN points — and now you are 14 behind Arsenal.
He could have said all this had he been in the position Klopp was when he replaced Brendan Rodgers in 2015.
But title-winning managers do not get the luxury of talking about process when they’ve just won the league. That was the process.
When you’re winning you can talk about what you like and get away with it.
And we know Liverpool have suffered injuries and a heap of problems settling new players this season.
‘Just an excuse’
But talking about process when you are struggling is just an excuse and fans are too smart to swallow it.
Talking in this way looks down on them and only adds to a worrying trend where supporters are quickly becoming an afterthought.
I’ve not got much interest in staying involved in football if it continues down this path.
What it used to be was the working man’s game with local people that bought their local team and just wanted to win.
But the way managers talk now is indicative of those above them — multi-billionaires who feign interest in success but are more focused on the balance sheet.
There has been plenty of focus on Chelsea recently, where two years ago they said, ‘We will buy young and win the Premier League in a few years’.
This team is miles away from winning the Premier League or Champions League.
If things aren’t going well, we suddenly hear that all they care about is top four. Which is it?
And too many coaches nowadays are scared of saying the smallest thing which could upset the money-men above them.
They try to shut out the constant noise around big clubs when, really, that is what makes football so brilliant, all the noise and chaos.
Pick most clubs across the Premier League and there are examples of this.
Owners and directors talking about grand ambitions and promising change which never comes.
And while they’re talking up the future they’re also busy whacking up prices of a ticket and a pint. How long will fans put up with the bulls*** before they simply quit?
IT’S MAC THE STRIFE
EVERY footballer – playing or retired – will have felt some sympathy for Dwight McNeil seeing his move to Crystal Palace collapse.
We’ve all been there and have heard stories of big deals falling down and not knowing why – it can be so hard to get your head around when you’ve done nothing wrong.
However, this is the gamble you take with a career as a footballer. The game can be brutal, but it also changes your life in unimaginable ways – that is the trade-off we all agree to.
What fundamentally happened was he didn’t get what he wanted, which was disappointing for him and for the family.
Clearly McNeil loves football and wants to play, and that’s the heartache of it all. He wanted to be there and wanted to get his career back on track.
However, nothing has changed for him personally. He hasn’t missed a payday or anything like that and now has to go back to Everton and make sure this move can still happen in the summer.
Two things can be true. Football can be too cruel at times and this could have had a huge impact on McNeil.
But deals collapse in football every day and part of the brutality of sport is that your average fan sitting at home is never going to feel sorry for you.
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