Gary Neville has hailed Arne Slot’s debut season at Liverpool as one of the “best coaching performances we’ve seen” in Premier League history, with the Dutchman on the verge of lifting the title at the first time of asking.
Liverpool were third favourites to win the division at the start of the season, behind last season’s top two of Manchester City and Arsenal at odds-on.
But following a staggering run of 26 unbeaten games and only two defeats all season, the Reds are now a point away from being crowned Premier League champions and will secure their second title with a draw against Tottenham this Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
As well as the speed of Slot’s adaption to working at one of the biggest clubs in the world, Neville paid particular tribute to his ability to transition out of the shadows of the Jurgen Klopp dynasty with such ease.
“I think he’s done an absolutely brilliant job, honestly,” he said on the Gary Neville Podcast. “I think that at the start of the season – none of us can rewrite history – there weren’t many Liverpool fans who thought they would win the league, let alone anybody else.
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“I don’t remember any pundit or analyst or journalist or fan really saying Liverpool will win the league. It was Manchester City or Arsenal. So to do what they’ve done is very special.
“Over a season, the coaching performance of Arne Slot is one of the best we’ve seen.
“And I say that in light of whom he took over from. One of the greatest personalities and characters we’ve seen in the Premier League, a Liverpool icon and legend. Going into that dressing room and having to establish control and authority, but knowing he probably could never do it the same way as Jurgen Klopp.
Gary Neville congratulated Arne Slot and Liverpool on a great season with the Reds closing on on the Premier League title and assessed how strong they will be next campaign
“No one can be the same personality and character as he was. But the way in which all season he’s coped with the conversations around the contracts, he’s dealt with those conversations. They’ve then signed two, I think the most important two of those players, Van Dijk and Salah, in the last couple of weeks.
“It’s also the way in which he’s kept calm and composed at points where maybe it’s not gone as well for them as he would have wanted.”
Central to Slot’s success at Anfield has been the form of star forward Mo Salah, whose performances had been called into question last season amid what appeared a public falling-out with Klopp on the touchline at West Ham in one of the former coach’s final games in charge.
However, since the start of the season, the Egypt international has taken his game to new levels at the age of 32 – already breaking the all-time Premier League goal involvement record from a 38-game season, with five matches of this campaign left to play. The 2024/25 Golden Boot is also almost certain to be heading to his personal trophy cabinet.
Neville explained the adaptation he had seen from the forward, saying: “Salah has gone from being someone who made beautiful, brilliant runs in between full-back and centre-back, like Mane used to, but he used to make them from that right-hand side.
“He’s now playing very differently, where he’s sort of not really pressing anymore. Not that he was ever amazing at pressing, but he sort of like floats forward when Liverpool are defending into that sort of split-striker position. The ball gets played over his head.
“They’ve sort of come up with a way of accommodating him to get the best out of him. He was a constant menace against Leicester.
“Slot had to get the very best again out of Salah and make him feel so comfortable. And people say, well okay, they’re great players, they’re world-class players. Of course they are.
“But still, they can be upset and put off quite quickly if they’re not with the right type of manager, these types of players. They’re difficult to manage if they’re not with the right type of personality.”
Perhaps Slot’s greatest individual achievement has been the transformation in Ryan Gravenberch, who has become the No 6 the Reds were crying out for following the decline and departure of Fabinho, and subsequent failure to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad in the summer.
Ryan Gravenberch has stepped his game up ahead of Liverpool’s title triumph
“The players who I would class as being six out of 10 players, he’s made them seven out of 10,” added Neville. “That’s the most impressive thing for me. And the players who were maybe six and a half, seven out of 10, he’s made eight out of 10.
“The likes of Gravenberch and Gakpo, who maybe you thought, ‘are they real top Liverpool players?’ And now you look at them, you see Gravenberch against Leicester in the last game. I gave Mac Allister the man of the match, but Gravenberch could easily have been man of the match. He’s been fantastic.”
Liverpool look set to win the league at a canter, barring an unprecedented collapse in the final weeks of the season – and should have things wrapped up on Sunday when they host Tottenham live on Sky Sports.
The Reds’ achievements have been criticised at times for a lack of real competition to their title push, with nearest-chasers Arsenal more than 10 points behind for several weeks of the run-in.
“They’re not going to get pushed at the end, but that’s not their problem,” Neville said. “That’s the problem of the others. It’s the problem of City.
“It’s the problem of Arsenal. It’s the problem of Chelsea and Villa, Newcastle, Tottenham, Manchester United, all the clubs who spend big money who would like to think that they’d be up there.
“Liverpool now have recruited very well for a number of years, but I did think at the start of the season, I think I had them fifth.
“I thought there would be just a natural fall, as there sometimes is when a Wenger leaves or a Sir Alex Ferguson leaves. There just is a natural drop. So that’s why I think the manager and coach deserves enormous credit.”
