Liverpool: Fans still remember Klopp

小叶看球

26/02/2026 17:05:04 小叶看球

The 2025/26 season is casting Arne Slot into a unique contradiction at Liverpool: He still secures victories, the chance for Champions League football persists, but unwavering faith has consistently been absent.

Because at Anfield, success is measured not just in points, but also in aura. And the shadow named Jurgen Klopp still looms over every stand.

Klopp's Shadow and the "Aura" Challenge at Anfield

Statistically, Slot is far from poor. He won a title in his very first season at Anfield and currently holds the highest win rate in the club's history. Despite fluctuations, Liverpool still has a clear opportunity to break into the Premier League's Top 5. But Anfield has never been a place that lives by pure statistics alone.

Klopp didn't just deliver the 2019 Champions League trophy or breath-taking Premier League title races. He delivered emotion. A great deal of it. Those fist-pumps towards the crowd, passionate speeches, the ability to transform a team into a community… all created a special "effect." He wasn't merely a manager but a cultural icon for the club, akin to the legendary Bill Shankly in the past. Slot is different. He is pragmatic, calm, less flamboyant. There are no iconic celebrations, no inspirational declarations. He focuses on tactical structure, incremental improvements in fine details. In press conferences, Slot often emphasizes the need for progress rather than lavishing praise on his players as Klopp frequently did.

This very difference places him at a disadvantage in comparisons. When the team wins, people attribute it to the foundation left by Klopp. When the team struggles, Klopp's name is invoked as the benchmark. Notably, a section of fans even dreams of a scenario where Xabi Alonso returns to Anfield as manager, despite the reality that the recently dismissed Real Madrid coach twice lost in direct confrontations against Slot himself. The truth is, no successor to Klopp could easily replicate that level of affection. Even at Borussia Dortmund, over the past decade, no manager has achieved a status comparable to his. But at Liverpool, where memories are deeply cherished, such comparisons seem almost inevitable.

The more inconsistently Liverpool plays, the more Arne Slot is compared to Jurgen Klopp

Consequently, Slot finds himself "trapped" between a glorious past and future expectations. He has achievements, but lacks an iconic presence. He secures victories, but lacks the aura.

Late Victories and an Unstable Reality

If one image best reflects Slot's season, it's the 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Liverpool played a dreadful first half, arguably their worst under Slot. Florian Wirtz got injured during the warm-up. Mohamed Salah extended his goal drought. The midfield was overrun, the rhythm disjointed, with many passes lacking accuracy.

Meanwhile, Forest under Vitor Pereira were the team with more energy and better organization. However, in the 90+7th minute, Alexis Mac Allister scored the decisive goal following a chaotic situation checked twice by VAR. Liverpool took all three points.

That was their 7th decisive goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League this season, a record-breaking figure. This demonstrates their fighting spirit and refusal to give up. But it also exposes another reality: Liverpool far too often let matches drift to the brink. This season, they have also dropped 8 points due to conceding in stoppage time. Matches hanging in the balance until the final minute have become a recurring theme. For fans, leaving the stadium early is almost a "gamble".

The victory against Forest allowed Liverpool to draw level on points with Chelsea in the race for Top 5. It also marked the first time in a year they kept consecutive clean sheets in away domestic league matches. However, overall, the performance still lacked the necessary fluency for a genuine Champions League contender. Slot admitted the team was lucky. He suggested that perhaps fortune was turning after enduring the opposite so many times before.

However, top-level football cannot rely solely on luck and individual moments. Liverpool under Slot are still searching for stability, seeking a distinct identity separate from Klopp's legacy. And until that identity is clearly defined, the sense of nostalgia at Anfield will persist.

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