Their answer to Guardiola: Liverpool could hire the “best young coach in Europe”

Managers are leaving Premier League outfits left, right and centre. Will Liverpool decide to follow suit and dismiss Arne Slot at the end of the season?

To be honest, the case for Slot’s sacking is strong. Not to discredit his achievements at Anfield – because Slot came in and succeeded in Jurgen Klopp’s place, winning the Premier League with such confidence in his maiden year – but the fall-off this season has gone beyond stark, drawing numerous parallels with Brendan Rodgers’ demise all those years ago.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, this is a dire situation, enflamed by Mohamed Salah‘s recent comments. Salah, quitting a year ahead of schedule, knows what he is doing, and Liverpool are becoming frayed, fractured.

Something needs to change, but will it be the man in the dugout?

Liverpool considering Arne Slot dismissal

Perhaps after Liverpool face Brentford on Sunday, therefore ending their season, a clearer picture of how Anfield’s tectonic plates will shift will materialise.

There’s no question that a disproportionate number of Liverpool fans want to see Slot sacked, even after his title-winning escapades last season.

According to TEAMtalk, FSG chiefs are starting to grasp the severity of Liverpool’s plight, with Slot’s future now being considered. A shortlist of names has been drawn, among them, Julian Nagelsmann, who is being discussed and looked at behind the scenes. It’s stated that Anfield officials particularly ‘admire’ him.

Nagelsmann, 38, is a young coach, but he has already built a wealth of experience in his homeland, now managing the German national team.

Nagelsmann is a free-thinking tactician, applying German-coded gegenpressing tactics but also bringing his own brand of control. In that, he could be Liverpool’s own version of Pep Guardiola.

Why Nagelsmann can be Liverpool’s own Guardiola

Farewell, Pep, you and Klopp were really quite something. One of football’s most iconic managerial rivalries, next season, neither will be around in the Premier League.

Both are one-of-a-kind managers, irreplaceable, but Liverpool could actually secure their own version of Guardiola in Nagelsmann, who has been hailed as the “best young coach in Europe” by reporter Josh Bunting.

“Guardiola’s Barcelona is my role model“, said Nagelsmann in 2019, the former RB Leipzig coach discussing his team’s principles: strength and dominance in possession, intense pressing, lethal finishing.

Slot’s Liverpool like to retain the ball. Indeed, Guardiola’s Manchester City are the only side to have seen more possession in the Premier League this season. However, they have been ineffective, unable to break teams down and pressure opponents into mistakes.

Nagelsmann, however, brings a different kind of ball-playing system to the table. He wants the ball, for sure, but he likes to dominate and overwhelm his adversaries, maintaining high ball retention statistics while pushing high up the pitch.

In this, he could bring the ‘Total Football’ style that could reignite Liverpool and get this long-term FSG project back on track.

Employing a 4-2-3-1 formation, Nagelsmann could even get the best out of the likes of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, reshaping Liverpool’s line-up and charting a course for a period of sustained success, à la Guardiola over at City, where the Citizens have been replete with silverware.

Nagelsmann is young, but he has gained a lot of experience in his homeland. Now, he is ready to take on the Premier League, maybe after a World Cup campaign that will consolidate his elite managerial quality.