Arne Slot’s Best Eredivisie Season Compared to Erik ten Hag’s

It looks like Liverpool are closing in on a Jurgen Klopp successor, with Feyenoord’s Arne Slot reportedly engaging in talks with the club about taking over in the summer. The Dutchman has built a solid reputation as a coach through his work with Feyenoord in the Eredivisie. He’s won a league title with the club, he’s still relatively young and it seems like the next plausible move for him is to make that step up and manage in the Premier League.

We’ve heard all of this before though, haven’t we? Manchester United were in a similar position a couple of years ago when they needed to replace Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, and they too turned to the Netherlands where they handpicked Erik ten Hag as their next boss. The 54-year-old was held in high regard by many all over the world for the excellent job he did in charge of Ajax.

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How Liverpool Could Line Up Under Arne Slot

The Feyenoord manager is in talks to take over from Jurgen Klopp and this is how his side could line up next season

Ten Hag took them to several league titles and even saw relative success in Europe, with an impressive run to the Champions League semi-finals. His time in England hasn’t been quite as fruitful, though. At Old Trafford, the Dutchman has struggled to replicate his success with Ajax and has often come under scrutiny for the manner in which his side has underperformed. It’s hard to say how Slot will fare in England if he is to take the Liverpool job, but considering his career looks to be following a similar trajectory to Ten Hag, let’s compare their best seasons in the Eredivisie.

Erik ten Hag’s Best Season Came in 2020/21

He guided Ajax to a domestic double

While he may have his sceptics and doubters now, Ten Hag was beloved at Ajax and for good reason. Across five years with the Dutch club, he enjoyed great success, but it was the 2020/21 season that was his best. Coming off the back of two straight league titles, there’s a risk that a team can grow stagnant and lose the motivation to keep performing at such a high level.

That wasn’t the case for Ten Hag’s Ajax, though, who had their best season under him to record their third straight league title. That year, the club lost just two league games, finishing 16 points clear of PSV Eindhoven in second. With 88 points and a miraculous goal difference of +79, they completely blew their opponents out of the water all year long.

Ajax scored 102 goals that campaign, and there have been few sides quite as impressive in recent memory. They weren’t just successful in the league, though, winning the KNVB Cup as well, completing a domestic double. He was ultimately given the Rinus Michels Award that year, a trophy annually presented to the best coach in Eredivisie. It was his second of two straight seasons where he won the award, something that’s only been matched by three other coaches and interestingly, Slot is one of them.

Arne Slot’s Best Season Came in 2022/23

He took Feyenoord to their first league title in six years

With Ten Hag leaving Ajax in the summer of 2022, there was an opportunity to usurp the club and that’s exactly what Slot and his Feyenoord team did the very next season. He took the team to the top of the division, winning their first league title in six years and just their second in the 21st century. They picked up 82 points along the way, the joint-highest tally the club has ever won, a testament to the incredible work that they were doing.

Similar to Ten Hag’s best Ajax season, Feyenoord lost just twice in the league during Slot’s best season. They recorded a goal difference of of +51 and finished seven points clear of PSV Eindhoven in second place. They failed to win any other trophy, but their manager was presented with the Rinus Michels Award for the second straight year.

Slot’s best season at Feyenoord wasn’t anywhere near as dominant as Ten Hag’s strongest campaign with Ajax, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll fare worse if he is to come to England. Only time will tell how a potential appointment at Liverpool would play out for the 45-year-old.

Jamie Carragher Isn’t Convinced About Slot

The ex-defender thinks the jump from Feyenoord to Liverpool might be too big

Replacing Jurgen Klopp is always going to be a difficult job. The Reds coach has become a club legend over the last nine years, and Liverpool need to get his replacement nailed on. Otherwise, they risk taking a huge step back and undoing a lot of the work he’s done.

Whether that is Slot or not, Jamie Carragher isn’t too confident about the potential hire. Speaking ahead of the Reds’ Premier League match with Everton, the former defender admitted he thought the jump from Feyenoord to Liverpool was a big one.

With Xabi Alonso ruling himself out of the running and publicly stating his intention to remain at Bayer Leverkusen, Slot might just be the best possible option left on the table for Liverpool. Whether he has a similar experience to Ten Hag in England remains to be seen, but with Klopp’s departure coming in just over a month, the Reds might find out soon enough.