Ultimately, I LOVE the stats and the numbers and the underlying data, BUT so much outside stuff goes into football that makes it crazy! Last year, LFC were flying, but we had an AFCON that Salah came back from spent, and the emotional drainage of Klopp's announcement with so much of the season left to play really sapped everyone's energy. Had there been no AFCON last season and Klopp had waited until the end of March to make his announcement, this is probably title #21!
That said, Jurgen handing over a LOADED squad is one of his greatest accomplishments as our manager, and Edwards coming back and not getting sucked into the noise on replacements (Amorin, Alonso, etc.) and finding the perfect fit for this squad just further proves how good he is at his job. Slot deserves SO much credit for not coming in and trying to "put his stamp" on this team making a load of changes, instead he let it evolve through the season and sprinkled in those little tweaks (seasoning on meal to borrow Josh's metaphor) to make us a bit more stable and tough to score on.
However, Josh did not mention the thing Slot did that I think helped him the most which I think is one of those things that cannot be measured. For Jurgen's entire tenure he never had a "doghouse," he never talked about a player or had a discipline issue that the public saw other than with Mamadou Sahko in his very first year. Since then any issues were kept inhouse and the whole squad was surrounded by positive vibes that led to great contributions whenever a player was called on no matter how little they were used.
Slot managed to match that!!! He (for this season at least) proved to be Klopp's equal in man-management! Think about how much usage changed this year for Endo, Harvey, Gomez (before his injury), Darwin, and others. Yet we did not see anyone go off the rails - sure Darwin had some social media outbursts, but not once did a player ruin the vibe or chemistry of this team. The no "d!*kheads" policy stayed in place and Slot got great contributions from up and down the roster.
This ability to man-manage has me very excited that LFC will keep the no drama culture moving forward and Slot should be able to pile up even more silverware!
OMG how did I forget in regards to Slot's man-management that he also had to navigate VVD and Salah in the last year of their contracts and an almost assured move by Trent to Real Madrid. He never allowed those to be a distraction! Such a great job by LFC as a whole to keep this team on track!
Fellow Aussie here, Dirk! What beautiful morning it was celebrating at 3:30am! Will echo your comments, it’s these articles and insights I wait for the most after the weekend. Brilliant.
Really well said, Josh. Slot brought more control in possession, reduced chaos and put the ball at Mo’s feet as much as possible, for him to shoot or to create across the box. The guys next to him (Dom, Diogo, Darwin) had to run their balls off to enable it, but the title win justified it.
I made a last minute decision to get my hands on a ticket, I succeeded in doing so (spent a small fortune), I made my travel arrangements and despite going alone I had the best weekend of my life !!
Fitness had so much to do with this season as well as that pragmatic approach by Slot - Pep Linders brought out a whole book about "Intensity" and spoke about how they trained as hard as they played - While it worked brilliantly for a while, I think it quite simply wore out the team and caused too many injuries.
Fantastic, fantastic article Josh. Clear and insightful. Have enjoyed you on the RedMen DeepDive all season now finally joined you here on Substack land and looking forward to all you have to come. UP THE REDS.
I think redeploying Gravenberch to solve the no. 6 issue was the most important change from last season. Btw Josh, I absolutely loved it when you said 'You're a tit' on TAW today - made me spit my tea out laughing.
Great read Josh, the sustainability is the key bit that you called early in the season, there will always be things that we can’t effect but the things that can have been done brilliantly. Already excited about next year and further improvements
"Tiny modifications to present Liverpool with a marginally better chance of maintaining their charge across 38 matches rather than 33."
But the basic numbers don't stack up with this argument, Josh. After 33 games last season, Liverpool had 5 fewer points than this (74 v 79) from an almost identical F/A record (75 v 75 scored and 32 v 31 conceded). So they'd achieved pretty much the same as last year to that 33 game mark.
The obvious difference is that this year any failure to maintain this rate over 38 games won't matter after Sunday ... and the reason is that Arsenal have already achieved so much less, mainly by scoring 16 fewer (77 v 61) while conceding about the same (26 v 27). Ditto City.
No doubt Slot has made the tweaks you go on to discuss, but he hasn't changed the team's basic results very much at all by doing so. Other contenders' results have declined. What we can't say is whether this season's league is "tougher" with the emergence of more challengers for the European places, such that without Slot's tweaks Liverpool's results would have fallen back fromn last year, just like Arsenal's and City's. But that doesn't seem to be the argument you're making.
But you’re just looking at outcomes mate. Goals, points. My whole Substack is dedicated to the underlying stuff under the hood. And when you delve into those details, it’s clear to see that Liverpool have been much better as a unit, particularly on the defensive end. Our results have been far more sustainable this season versus last.
And I realise Man City and Arsenal have declined this term, but this post is about Liverpool’s title win, and you can only beat what you’ve got in front of you. I’ll cover our rivals in greater detail when I review the season as a whole.
Appreciate all the "under the hood" stuff you cover, that you were going to look at the other contenders later ... and the fact that you've replied to me.
Put another way, what I was trying to say was that Slot actually hasn't maintained a title challenge over 38 games this season when last's fell apart after 33. He's instead won the title in 34 games (maybe at season's end we'll see it was actually won after the 33rd or 32nd). Games 35-38 have been made irrelevant.
If his minor tweaks are to account for this title win, then we can't say it's because he's made a 38-game season more sustainable for the players (since we only have those 34 games of data yet). We know Slot's distributed playing minutes differently - have his preferred starters already played the same minutes as in 38 games last season, perhaps ? That would make your argument follow - he's got 38 games' worth out of them in 34, by tweaking their play/training style and won the title by doing so.
Alternatively, it may be that a more competitive league this season would have pulled Liverpool down the same way it has Arsenal and City, if it were not for Slot's tweaks. In other words, maybe Liverpool aren't better this season than last (since they've actually scored and conceded the same) but merely by sustaining their scoring/concessions against a more competitive field they've come in well ahead of the contenders, who could not adapt to a more competitive league season the way Slot's Liverpool did.
Can you show us from "under the hood" why one interpretation is right and the other not ? Thanks.
It’s a fair point. While I suppose you’re technically right, I think my argument is more that if Klopp was still in charge and nothing had changed under the hood, I’m personally not sure we’d be celebrating being champions right now. It’s possible, of course, but Liverpool are just more sustainable as a unit this term.
If Jurgen was still here, there’s no way of knowing whether Konate would’ve been available as much. Whether Nunez would’ve played more often. Whether Salah would’ve broken records. Whether Gakpo would’ve been moved to the left. Whether Gravenberch would’ve been trusted as our six.
It’s all unknowns. So I do take your point, but despite it, I still think the changes Slot has made have essentially got us over the line without any blips along the road.
Ultimately, I LOVE the stats and the numbers and the underlying data, BUT so much outside stuff goes into football that makes it crazy! Last year, LFC were flying, but we had an AFCON that Salah came back from spent, and the emotional drainage of Klopp's announcement with so much of the season left to play really sapped everyone's energy. Had there been no AFCON last season and Klopp had waited until the end of March to make his announcement, this is probably title #21!
That said, Jurgen handing over a LOADED squad is one of his greatest accomplishments as our manager, and Edwards coming back and not getting sucked into the noise on replacements (Amorin, Alonso, etc.) and finding the perfect fit for this squad just further proves how good he is at his job. Slot deserves SO much credit for not coming in and trying to "put his stamp" on this team making a load of changes, instead he let it evolve through the season and sprinkled in those little tweaks (seasoning on meal to borrow Josh's metaphor) to make us a bit more stable and tough to score on.
However, Josh did not mention the thing Slot did that I think helped him the most which I think is one of those things that cannot be measured. For Jurgen's entire tenure he never had a "doghouse," he never talked about a player or had a discipline issue that the public saw other than with Mamadou Sahko in his very first year. Since then any issues were kept inhouse and the whole squad was surrounded by positive vibes that led to great contributions whenever a player was called on no matter how little they were used.
Slot managed to match that!!! He (for this season at least) proved to be Klopp's equal in man-management! Think about how much usage changed this year for Endo, Harvey, Gomez (before his injury), Darwin, and others. Yet we did not see anyone go off the rails - sure Darwin had some social media outbursts, but not once did a player ruin the vibe or chemistry of this team. The no "d!*kheads" policy stayed in place and Slot got great contributions from up and down the roster.
This ability to man-manage has me very excited that LFC will keep the no drama culture moving forward and Slot should be able to pile up even more silverware!
OMG how did I forget in regards to Slot's man-management that he also had to navigate VVD and Salah in the last year of their contracts and an almost assured move by Trent to Real Madrid. He never allowed those to be a distraction! Such a great job by LFC as a whole to keep this team on track!
Just want to thank you Josh for the insights, the analytical prowess and the calm assurantie with which you've presented your weekly insights.
I live in Australia and am doing it tough for the moment so I cannot afford (YET) to join and sign up but promise that as soon as I get a job I will.
THANK YOU
Go the Aussies! Good luck with the job search Dirk (great name for a Scouser-down under, by the way)
Fellow Aussie here, Dirk! What beautiful morning it was celebrating at 3:30am! Will echo your comments, it’s these articles and insights I wait for the most after the weekend. Brilliant.
Really well said, Josh. Slot brought more control in possession, reduced chaos and put the ball at Mo’s feet as much as possible, for him to shoot or to create across the box. The guys next to him (Dom, Diogo, Darwin) had to run their balls off to enable it, but the title win justified it.
Great work and analysis Josh. Really enjoy reading your work a huge Reds fan from Bangkok, Thailand
I made a last minute decision to get my hands on a ticket, I succeeded in doing so (spent a small fortune), I made my travel arrangements and despite going alone I had the best weekend of my life !!
Fitness had so much to do with this season as well as that pragmatic approach by Slot - Pep Linders brought out a whole book about "Intensity" and spoke about how they trained as hard as they played - While it worked brilliantly for a while, I think it quite simply wore out the team and caused too many injuries.
Fantastic, fantastic article Josh. Clear and insightful. Have enjoyed you on the RedMen DeepDive all season now finally joined you here on Substack land and looking forward to all you have to come. UP THE REDS.
Marvelous read that Josh 👏🏼👏🏼
I think redeploying Gravenberch to solve the no. 6 issue was the most important change from last season. Btw Josh, I absolutely loved it when you said 'You're a tit' on TAW today - made me spit my tea out laughing.
Great read Josh, the sustainability is the key bit that you called early in the season, there will always be things that we can’t effect but the things that can have been done brilliantly. Already excited about next year and further improvements
I love that Slot waited until the title is confirmed to deliver his punchline: “The second in five years."
"Tiny modifications to present Liverpool with a marginally better chance of maintaining their charge across 38 matches rather than 33."
But the basic numbers don't stack up with this argument, Josh. After 33 games last season, Liverpool had 5 fewer points than this (74 v 79) from an almost identical F/A record (75 v 75 scored and 32 v 31 conceded). So they'd achieved pretty much the same as last year to that 33 game mark.
The obvious difference is that this year any failure to maintain this rate over 38 games won't matter after Sunday ... and the reason is that Arsenal have already achieved so much less, mainly by scoring 16 fewer (77 v 61) while conceding about the same (26 v 27). Ditto City.
No doubt Slot has made the tweaks you go on to discuss, but he hasn't changed the team's basic results very much at all by doing so. Other contenders' results have declined. What we can't say is whether this season's league is "tougher" with the emergence of more challengers for the European places, such that without Slot's tweaks Liverpool's results would have fallen back fromn last year, just like Arsenal's and City's. But that doesn't seem to be the argument you're making.
But you’re just looking at outcomes mate. Goals, points. My whole Substack is dedicated to the underlying stuff under the hood. And when you delve into those details, it’s clear to see that Liverpool have been much better as a unit, particularly on the defensive end. Our results have been far more sustainable this season versus last.
And I realise Man City and Arsenal have declined this term, but this post is about Liverpool’s title win, and you can only beat what you’ve got in front of you. I’ll cover our rivals in greater detail when I review the season as a whole.
Appreciate all the "under the hood" stuff you cover, that you were going to look at the other contenders later ... and the fact that you've replied to me.
Put another way, what I was trying to say was that Slot actually hasn't maintained a title challenge over 38 games this season when last's fell apart after 33. He's instead won the title in 34 games (maybe at season's end we'll see it was actually won after the 33rd or 32nd). Games 35-38 have been made irrelevant.
If his minor tweaks are to account for this title win, then we can't say it's because he's made a 38-game season more sustainable for the players (since we only have those 34 games of data yet). We know Slot's distributed playing minutes differently - have his preferred starters already played the same minutes as in 38 games last season, perhaps ? That would make your argument follow - he's got 38 games' worth out of them in 34, by tweaking their play/training style and won the title by doing so.
Alternatively, it may be that a more competitive league this season would have pulled Liverpool down the same way it has Arsenal and City, if it were not for Slot's tweaks. In other words, maybe Liverpool aren't better this season than last (since they've actually scored and conceded the same) but merely by sustaining their scoring/concessions against a more competitive field they've come in well ahead of the contenders, who could not adapt to a more competitive league season the way Slot's Liverpool did.
Can you show us from "under the hood" why one interpretation is right and the other not ? Thanks.
It’s a fair point. While I suppose you’re technically right, I think my argument is more that if Klopp was still in charge and nothing had changed under the hood, I’m personally not sure we’d be celebrating being champions right now. It’s possible, of course, but Liverpool are just more sustainable as a unit this term.
If Jurgen was still here, there’s no way of knowing whether Konate would’ve been available as much. Whether Nunez would’ve played more often. Whether Salah would’ve broken records. Whether Gakpo would’ve been moved to the left. Whether Gravenberch would’ve been trusted as our six.
It’s all unknowns. So I do take your point, but despite it, I still think the changes Slot has made have essentially got us over the line without any blips along the road.