In an exclusive interview with BOYLE Sports, Andy Townsend has warned that Arne Slot's time at Liverpool could be coming to an end if the Reds fall away this season into the top six or seven and backs Xabi Alonso to make his Anfield return in the summer.
Townsend has also offered his perspective on the the turnaround at Manchester United with specific praise for how Michael Carrick has simplified things at the club, but backs Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone as the perfect foil for Old Trafford this summer.
Liverpool
Slot’s Survival Chances Amidst Under Firing Players
Is Arne Slot’s time at Liverpool coming to an end? If they fall away this season into the top six or top seven, I think he’ll be in real trouble. The top five could be enough for the Champions League this season. It depends on the UEFA coefficients, but it is looking like that could be the case. If Liverpool finish fifth and get deep into the Champions League , I think he will survive off the back of winning the Premier League last year. I think he absolutely gets the right to have a go again if he manages to do that.
But I think if their season falls away and they become a bit of an insignificance, then I don’t think he would keep his job because Liverpool certainly haven’t been what you would call an insignificant club in recent years. Slot needs to deliver a convincing finish to this season. That’s the best way I can describe it. Even if they were to get fourth, they need to get there in a manner that makes the owners feel reasonably comfortable about going again next season under Slot because we have seen that he can take them to a title. He knows how to do it.
Whatever people say about Liverpool being Jürgen Klopp's team last year, that's unfair, and it’s not right either. It was Arna Slot who was in control of whether or not they were someone else's players. That's irrelevant. He had them for 10 months, and he took them over the line. He deserves credit and respect for that.
It's just whether he can do it again, and in order to get the chance to try, he needs to make sure they look better and find more consistency, and I think they need to bring that intensity back to their game. Last season, we all looked at what Arne Slot was he was doing and thought, it's quite clever the way they can slow it down a little bit. None of this heavy metal stuff that Klopp was insistent upon. Well, now they need to get a bit of the heavy metal back into their football again.
Will Arne Slot make it to the end of the season at Liverpool?
They showed something in that second half against Manchester City. Playing towards The Kop , they started to apply pressure and squeeze City , press them to cause a few errors and back each other up. Once they start playing like that, they can still be a very good team, but they’ve been too hot and cold this season.
Let's be honest, they've had the Mohamed Salah situation before Christmas when he left to go to AFCON . He's come back now, and he still hasn't got up to speed, really. I haven’t seen Mo Salah kick a ball in the way we know he can. He’s not been brilliant for some time now. Whether Mo is going to find that edge again, or if he’d even want to find that for Arne Slot, given what’s gone on, that’s another question. Virgil van Dijk turns 35 in July. He isn’t going to be getting any quicker or any better. That is a fact. They’ve got some real issues in that camp and in their squad.
Florian Wirtz has had the odd half a game here and there, but hasn’t come up with any sort of form that you would call world-class yet. He still needs to put in a run of games where we’re all going wow, I get it now. He’s had moments so far, but we haven’t seen that. Not really.
There are others in the camp who you’d now have question marks over, too. Alexis McAllister doesn't look like the same player he was last year. He’s only been on the edges of games in the middle of the park, seemingly unable to boss a game and control things for Liverpool like we were used to seeing. It's not just Salah . It's not just Van Dijk. There are other problems in that dressing room to solve, too. Dominik Szoboszlai has been great. I really like Hugo Ekitike, too. I think he's got every chance to be a top player at Anfield for years to come.
Do Liverpool Need An Overhaul?
Alonso Could Make Anfield Return
Xabi Alonso would walk through the doors at Liverpool as a decorated former player with the wind behind him. What he did at Bayer Leverkusen was outstanding, to almost go a full season unbeaten in all competitions. That’s not luck. That’s hard work. That comes from convincing a squad of players to follow your plan, like a whole machine working as one. You can’t do that if you haven’t got every player believing in what you do and who you are.
Sure, he went to Real Madrid , and it didn't happen for him there, but you don't get long when it starts going wrong at that sort of place, so it might be a blemish on his CV, but it doesn't ruin it. I think the work he did in Germany shows that he's a very capable coach, and he has the privilege of being an ex- Liverpool player, a highly regarded one at that, and that gives him the kudos and time to work.
Nowadays, supporters are very quick to assess a new manager even before they’ve come through the door. There’s so much talk on social media about someone being a bad appointment or a disappointment before they’ve even picked their first team or taken a training session. When you’re a top former player and a manager who’s already won the Bundesliga and shown you have what it takes, you’re coming in with so much more credit in the bank, and I think that’s important for anyone. I could see Xabi Alonso coming to Liverpool , but it depends on how they finish the season, if that happens this summer.
Man Utd
Carrick Is Exactly What United Needed
I think Michael Carrick has done a really good job since he’s come in. Some of the decisions he's made have been very straightforward, like playing Kobbie Mainoo.
He’s been naming unchanged starting lineups, and that’s never a bad thing. If you’ve got a winning team, don’t change it. Too many managers rotate players when their team’s been on a good run. All of a sudden, they’re giving this player a game, that player a game, but when you have a winning team, and they look like they’re enjoying things, just roll with it. Keep going. Live in that moment. Suddenly, you’re five games unbeaten as United are.
There's a simplicity and an effectiveness to what Michael has done, and he’s doing it in an understated manner. He doesn't shout from the rooftops. He doesn't have to sit there with a tactics board, moving little discs around. He might not be happy with everything that he's seeing all the time. I'm sure he's not. But he looks like he's in control.
Perception has never been more important for a manager than it is in today’s game. If your manager is pacing up and down, jumping up and down, not looking at corners when they're coming in like Ruben Amerim , afraid to have a look when you're defending a corner and staring at his feet, that puts you on the back foot instantly with people. Michael isn’t promising the earth. He’s giving players the license to play with more freedom and be a bit more spontaneous on the field, particularly in those forward areas. Lo and behold, they’ve started winning a few.
Should the West Ham plant some seeds of doubt about Carrick ? No, I don’t think so, given what he’s achieved in just five or six weeks in the job. It doesn’t matter who you are. You can be Pep Guardiola at Manchester City or Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, and every now and again, you get out there, you play games, and it’s not quite where it should be. That's the nature of football. That's why we love it. It has that unpredictable nature to it, sending 11 guys out onto a field and wondering what you're going to get.
United perhaps didn't reach some of the heights that they've shown under Carrick against West Ham , but it’s not easy to keep going away and winning, especially away from home in the Premier League . Only the very best and the very strongest teams continue to win away from home consistently, so I think that was a good point for United, particularly when it looked like they were going to get nothing. Now they move on to the next game with a feeling that they need to be better next time around. That’s not a bad thing either.
I think Michael has done everything right with what he’s done so far. The shape of the team looks better. Bruno Fernandes is top class as your No 10 in a more forward position, but he’s very ordinary when you play deeper as a sitting midfielder. He’s not strong enough. He can’t tackle. He can’t resist challenges. He’s not particularly quick. People catch him on the ball, and they’re going to get away from him. He's not good in that deep-lying position, but he's very good further up the field.
Go Get Simeone!
I feel there's probably someone out there better than Michael Carrick, even though he’s done very well. I think there would be people who are better equipped to manage a club like Manchester United than he can. I think you have to be looking for an elite manager, someone who has dealt with the very biggest players and personalities and has handled pressure from above and the terraces.
I don't think Antonio Conte would be the right fit. I could see Thomas Tuchel at United , but that would mean that he’s probably blown up England’s World Cup hopes in the summer, which would damage him. Out of all of them, the one manager I would like to see at United is Diego Simeone. I think his football and the way his Atletico Madrid team have played is kind of more suited to the Premier League.
I don’t think his style of play would please the United fans. They want something more flamboyant. But at the moment, United need to get back on level terms with the likes of City and Liverpool and try to get ahead of Arsenal . I don’t think you want someone who’s talking about the beautiful game. You need someone who is prepared to put massive demands on the players on a consistent basis and drag performances and victories out of them. Only Simeone has those qualities.
Would Diego Simeone Suit Man United?
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