Liverpool’s search for Jurgen Klopp’s successor has led them to the Eredivisie, where Feyenoord’s Arne Slot has been identified as the top target.
The Reds are now working to try and convince Feyenoord to part ways with their boss, but thankfully, things aren’t that complicated on Football Manager 2024 where, with the magic of editing, we can throw Slot into the Anfield dugout right in time for the 2024/25 season.
Let’s see how he gets on.
Slot signs his contract on July 1, 2024, replacing Klopp and beating surprise candidate Ange Postecoglou to the post.
He brings in a 4-2-3-1 formation and goes unbeaten over six games during the summer, partly in thanks to the final signing of the Klopp era, Ricardo Horta, who joined from Benfica for £25.5m as a farewell gift from the German.
The Premier League season arrives but Slot’s tenure gets off to a bumpy start, with his Liverpool side drawing 0-0 with Brentford.
The biggest tactical shift from Slot is moving Trent Alexander-Arnold into midfield alongside Thiago Alcantara, who starts the campaign with a straight red card. Delightful.
Aston Villa rock up to Anfield and emerge with a 3-1 victory, with Slot turning to young Tyler Morton in his midfield alongside Alexander-Arnold. The 21-year-old gets a respectable match rating of 6.7, unlike Alisson and his 5.8.
Liverpool do bounce back with wins over Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, but a tough run of fixtures goes about as badly as possible for Slot, whose side fall to Manchester City, Real Madrid and Tottenham in September. A 2-2 draw with Chelsea (who are starting Romelu Lukaku, by the way) is the only bright spot.
However, Slot’s side do figure themselves out across October and November with a decent run of form across the Premier League and Champions League that at least gives fans some hope for the season ahead.
With Liverpool not really hitting the heights just yet, Slot gets on the phone to the sporting directors and pushes for a new forward.
In comes Red Bull Salzburg’s Maurits Kjaergaard, who costs Slot a cool £40.5m. He’s the only signing of the January transfer window but has to be patient for minutes as Alexis Mac Allister is quietly cooking in his attacking midfield role.
The first signs of pressure on Slot come in early 2025.
January begins with a 0-0 draw with Brentford, before a youthful outfit get thumped 3-1 by Norwich City in the third round of the FA Cup. Three goals inside the first seven minutes? Ouch.
Crystal Palace secure a 1-1 draw and Nottingham Forest beat Slot’s side 2-1, and there are even reports he could be sacked if Liverpool fail to get anything against Red Star in the Champions League.
Alexander-Arnold does his best to ruin things with a red card inside the first minute but Liverpool’s stars stand up and save Slot’s job…for now.
Unfortunately for Slot, February brings a nightmarish run of fixtures for any manager facing the sack.
Across 20 days, Slot is facing games against Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, Fulham and Arsenal. If he survives, he’s going to need some big performances.
Slot survives just three days of that hellish schedule, getting thumped 3-0 by Chelsea and 2-1 by Man City before getting the dreaded phone call on February 5, 2025.
The Reds bring in Roberto De Zerbi, one of the men originally tipped to replace Klopp in the actual Anfield dugout, to take Slot’s place.
With just eight goals in Slot’s 23 Premier League appearances, it’s a massive fall-off from Mohamed Salah.
While he obviously hasn’t played a full campaign under Slot, Salah is on pace to record his worst goalscoring season of his Liverpool career – beating his previous worst of 19 in both 2019/20 in 2022/23.
Side note: How can 19 league goals be your worst-ever total? That’s mental.
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