Yahoo Sports Liverpool have hit the jackpot with Arne Slot
When Sky Sports cut to a break after Liverpool's 3-0 demolition of Manchester United, the final line said what we all were thinking: "The Slot Machine has hit the jackpot at Old Trafford."
But as we have seen in all three competitive games this season, Liverpool are coming up with 7-7-7 every time they pull the handle.
Inheriting a team from the legend that is Jürgen Klopp seemed like a poisoned chalice to some outsiders, while many insiders thought that the Reds would need to rebuild under the new manager and anyone coming in would need time to adapt.
It is what we have been told about Erik ten Hag at Man Utd. The Red Devils are apparently a team in transition who need to adapt to the Dutchman's tactics.
READ MORE: Liverpool player ratings: Liverpool 3-0 Manchester United
Liverpool under Slot did not need any time to adapt. They are already playing Slotball™ and the post-match interview the new Reds boss indicated just how far ahead tactically Slot is over his compatriot.
If anything, Slot even knows Ten Hag's team better than Ten Hag himself.
“Last season they were man marking on the midfield and they had a press with the 7 and 11," Slot explained to Sky Sports.
“This season they are more with a 9 and 10 press so they’re more in the 4-4-2 so that’s different of course I see them in my opinion working harder if the ball is being played through them, so they run more."
What Slot has learned from Klopp
Man Utd sure did run a lot and Liverpool sure did play the ball through them, as was evidenced from the outset and by Ten Hag's removal of Casemiro at half-time after being taught a lesson by the Reds midfield.
Slot's trust in his own players to get the job done has been shown by Liverpool's lack of transfer business. The Reds were willing to go into the market for the right player at the right price, as shown by the attempt to sign Martin Zubimendi and then the shrewd deal for Federico Chiesa, but the squad did not need a major overhaul to play the football the new boss wants.
Before moving to Merseyside, the 45-year-old analysed what worked for Klopp and has kept some of the German's tried-and-tested tactics to complement his own approach.
“There is not a specific game plan in the build up from the back. So we always want to press the opponent high, that’s what Jurgen did, that’s what we try to continue," he explained.
"Without the ball we always try to press as high as we can and we scored a few goals from a high press."
Pressing Casemiro proved a masterstroke as the Brazilian made two errors in the first half to allow Luis Diaz to make some history at Old Trafford, ensuring Slot got his own name in the record books by the time the final whistle was blown.
Liverpool's defensive improvement under Slot
Anyone who has been watching Liverpool so far this season knew this was a result the Reds were capable of, especially under the club's new mastermind in the dugout.
The players themselves definitely know that something special is cooking at Anfield, and it's not just the beans at the club's new coffee bar.
Andrew Robertson has been impressed by the new boss, highlighting how they are now stronger defensively:
"So far the start has been excellent. Everyone has enjoyed learning a new way of playing and trying to implement the manager's ideas," Robertson told the Daily Mail before Liverpool trounced Man Utd.
"We still have that freedom to help our wingers and overlap but defensively we have worked on certain things to hopefully become more defensively secure as a unit. He has left no stone unturned and it is up to us to go out and perform at the weekend."
Liverpool definitely performed exactly as Slot would have hoped against Man Utd, restricting them to a pathetic three shots on target and ensuring the game was already over by half-time.
The performance was a Slot masterclass, with Salah claiming afterwards that Liverpool could have scored five or six.
They might not need five, six, or lucky sevens every match, but in Slot they have the perfect successor to Klopp.
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