Sport
Liverpool boss Arne Slot reveals true feelings about Pep Guardiola in six-word message
Arne Slot used the build-up to the clash between Liverpool and Manchester City as an opportunity to hail Pep Guardiola as the best manager in the world.
But it was a bit of an aside that Private provided a more telling insight into why the Dutchman believes he can succeed where Jurgen Klopp failed by ending the Catalan's dominance of the Premier League.
“I don't look up to Pep,” Slot said in a briefing with the Sunday newspapers ahead of the clash between two teams that have been battling each other for the title for the better part of the last seven years. “Those are not the words I would want to use.”
Moments earlier, Slot had said to the TV cameras: “Pep is one of the best in the world – and in my opinion THE best.”
But with Liverpool now eight points ahead of the four-in-a-row champions, they will not suffer from an inferiority complex. Especially after European champion Real Madrid was defeated more comprehensively than the 2-0 score on Wednesday evening suggested.
Twenty-four hours earlier, City saw a 3-0 lead against Slot's former club Feyenoord evaporate in the last fourteen minutes of a game they dominated. That came after five successive defeats that had shaken City to their core and led to suggestions that Guardiola's team are now ripe for the taking.
“I came into contact with Feyenoord, but not in a tactical way,” the Dutchman admitted. “I just contacted the people I worked with to say 'what a great result and congratulations on the incredible achievement' and things like that.”
Anfield was a graveyard for the Blues, both before and after Guardiola arrived at the Etihad and won six titles in seven seasons. City have won just three games on Liverpool soil, dating back to 1956. Guardiola's only success there came when the stadium was left empty by the pandemic and he went home with a 4-1 win.
“What's even stranger is that the only time Liverpool have won the league in the last 30 years was when there were no fans either,” countered Slot.
“I think the reason for this record is that Liverpool have always had great teams as well. It's a combination of fans and players.
“If you only had good fans and bad players, it's difficult to win a match. But if you have very good players and the fans are all behind you, it always provides something extra.
“I think another statistic is that in the last nine or 10 games we've played against City, we've only won once.
“The last eight times we played against Real Madrid we had never won – until the other day when we won. So for me, such data and statistics don't mean much in this game.”
Slot emphasizes that the only thing the champions are missing is a stroke of luck.
The worst run of his career as a manager came early in his reign at AZ Alkmaar, when he drew four games. But according to him, the Eredivisie in his home country cannot be compared to the difficulties of winning games in the Premier League or Champions League.
Slot said: “I remember those four draws in a row, but it is also different when you play in the Premier League and the Champions League. If you play Europa League or Conference League matches in the Netherlands and then a league match, it is much easier. You're probably not going to lose five times in a row.
“In the Premier League and the Champions League this can happen to any team, especially if you are as unlucky as City in the last four or five games they played because the results could have been the other way around.
“I can't answer how I would react (to five straight defeats) until I've been in that position. If I were to analyze City at the moment I would say the results are not what they want. But if you look at how they play, I wouldn't worry at all.”