Slot´s Liverpool success will be measured by trophies, says McAllister

Gary McAllister says Arne Slot must be prepared to aim high by targeting trophies if he is to be successful with Liverpool.

The Dutchman is set to begin his first season in charge of the Reds after being appointed as Jurgen Klopp’s successor in May.

Liverpool enjoyed a trophy-laden spell under the German, winning their first-ever Premier League title, as well as a Champions League, a Club World Cup, a Super Cup, an FA Cup and two EFL Cups.

However, Slot was no stranger to success while at Feyenoord, leading the team to the Eredivisie title in 2022-23 before lifting the KNVB Cup in April during his final season with the club.

McAllister, who won five trophies in the two years he spent at Liverpool, says Slot’s success will be determined by the silverware he collects.

“Liverpool is a club that’s synonymous with winning, and when you don’t win you fail,” McAllister told Stats Perform.

“When there’s a new management team, you’re given a little bit more time, but the facts are Liverpool’s target, I felt, and as a player that played against them for most of his career, the targets that Liverpool set, you go into every tournament looking to win it.

“You try to win every game and that’s the expectation of the club and that’s what makes it a very special club.”

Klopp spent nine years at Liverpool, breaking club records as his team pushed for trophies on a regular basis.

The Reds enjoyed a club-record 68-match unbeaten run at Anfield over nearly four years in the Premier League between April 2017 and January 2021.

Klopp also oversaw three of the four most prolific seasons in Liverpool’s history, including the club-record total of 147 goals scored in 2021-22.

Slot has admitted he has “big shoes to fill”, but McAllister believes the 45-year-old will be able to live up to the high expectations left behind by Klopp.

“Arne arriving at the club, following Klopp, realising that it’s such a difficult job anyway, but to follow somebody who’s done particularly well at the club over an eight, nine-year period is going to be tough, and I don’t think the new manager is under any illusions,” he added.

“What I would say is he’s a man that seems to be a very strong character, good personality, and he’s just got to come in and be his own man and trust what he does.

“He’s done very well in his previous managerial career and coming to Liverpool I feel is a natural progression in the levels of the game that he’s worked at.

“So, everybody at the club will be deeply backing him and be right behind him, he’ll have amazing support.”

Head inside training as preparations continue with more work in Pittsburgh ahead of the game with Real Betis at the home of the @Steelers

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 26, 2024

Liverpool’s first pre-season game under Slot ended in a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End last week before the players flew out to the United States for a three-game tour.

They are also only one of two Premier League clubs yet to conduct any business in the transfer window so far, but McAllister urged fans to be patient with Slot while he gets settled in his new role.

“Whenever there’s a change at a club, I think the fans have got to realise that it does take time for a new manager, a new coaching group to come in and get their ideas over to the players,” he said.

“There’s got to be a modicum of patience, but at Liverpool, expectation levels are very, very high and sometimes, in professional soccer, in elite soccer, patience is something that most managers don’t get.

“As much as the fans have got to be aware that everything is new and there are new ideas, Arne and the players will want to get off to a quick start.

“I feel that this pre-season tour is going to help them start the season against Ipswich Town very strongly. I feel the games that they’ve got here in the US, here in Pittsburgh against Betis, and then we go to play Arsenal and Manchester United, the build-up is pretty good.”