John Barnes Interview: Slot’s football is a perfect blend of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp

In an exclusive interview with Lucky Block, Liverpool legend John Barnes outlines the best thing Jurgen Klopp did for Liverpool.

The former England talisman breaks down the Premier League season so far, saying he expects a three-way title race between Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal and tipping Villa to finishing fourth.

Full Transcript

Thoughts on the title race

JB: “The Premier League title will be between Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal. You can’t put Chelsea in the conversation because they will be inconsistent. As much as they play well, sometimes they play lesser teams and don’t play well and lose, and sometimes they win.

You need a consistency of performance where, if you’re not playing well, you’re going to get results, either a draw or win, and if Chelsea doesn’t play well, I can’t see them winning.

Arsenal have proven in the last couple of years that they can go all the way to the wire.

Liverpool, I surprisingly am putting them in the title race. I think it’s a surprise because I thought after Klopp, the club might start to fall off a little bit, which is what tends to happen when a legendary manager leaves a club. I thought it would take Slot a little bit longer to get his ideas over to his players, but they’ve been at it since he took over. 

Man City is Man City. Once again, they score in the last minute to win a game (vs Wolves), and they can do that. I make City the favourites, but I think Liverpool are much closer to Arsenal than I would have thought at the start of the season for that second spot.” 

Thoughts on the top four

JB: “I think the race for the final Champions League place is as interesting as the title race because you’ve got Aston Villa, Tottenham and Chelsea all with an eye on that, along with Newcastle and Man United, who are a little bit further away at the moment. 

I think any of those teams could grab it. It will come down to who can actually put a consistent run together. At this moment in time, Villa seems to be the team who are leading the pack and have the best chance. 

As much as Aston Villa are the most unfancied team for that four spot, and that’s even after qualifying for the Champions League last season, but the other clubs have more pedigree in recent years and some have better players, but they seem to be the ones who have got the most stability. 

There are good players and a good manager at Villa Park, I’ll make them favourites (for fourth). Things can change, especially around Christmas when the games start stack up, but in terms of what they’re actually doing now, I would make them favourites.”

Who has been the best player in the Premier League so far this season?

JB: “I actually think that the Premier League and football is moving away from individual stars. Of course, there are some big names in the Premier League – it’s a division full of wonderful players – but most of the clubs in the Premier League are outstanding teams and the overall team performance shines much brighter than any one individual. 

Look at Liverpool and Man City this season. De Bruyne and Haaland haven’t necessarily stood out. Haaland started really well, of course, but he’s drew a blank in his last two matches and City are still top of the league.

Arsenal, they’re just a proper team, as much as they’re missing Odegaard, they’re still doing really well.

Teams are becoming proper teams rather than looking to individuals to get them out of trouble or win them a game. Managers at the biggest clubs are focussing on the collective team performances, and, in many ways, the manager has become the star now. I don’t think managers becoming the most important part of a club is driven be ego, but from the point of view of, ‘Not a single player is more important than the manager,’ which is the right way to be.

Moving forward, we’re going to find the managers taking centre stage. 

Football should never be about individual players, it should be about the whole team and the manager putting together the team for the good of the club, and the good of performances. Not to the detriment of any individual. 

At top teams, teams that consistently challenge for titles, top managers are the ones who always have the power.”

Who would you pay money to watch play? 

JB: “I don’t pay money to see players. I pay money to see good teams. That’s it. Who is the most important player at Manchester City? Rodri. Would you pay money to watch him? He wouldn’t be the at the top of everyone’s list. You’re not going to pay money to see Rodri because he protects the back, he passes into Kevin De Bruyne. 

I don’t watch football like a fan. I watch it like a manager who wants to see a good team and formulate a strategy to play winning football.

And what you need is a good number six. Liverpool had it in Fabinho, Manchester City have it in Rodri.

When England got to the Euro final in 2021? The two most important players in terms of getting England there were Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice.

All of a sudden at Arsenal they’re saying, ‘Declan Rice is better than just sitting in, he can get forward, he can score goals.’ That’s not what he has to do, that’s not what Rodri does.

In this country we have to stop thinking that if we play Foden and Bellingham and Saka and Cole Palmer and Jack Grealish, we’re going to win. Balance is the most important thing and that has been our problem in the past, and it is our problem now.”

It’s the race that no one wants to win. Who do you think will win the sack race this season?

JB: “There’s no leading candidate because you’d have to look at the teams down at the bottom and the teams who’ve come up. What will happen is that one of them, if they go down, they get the sack. I don’t think there’s any manager in the top clubs who’s necessarily going to get the sack.”

England national team

There was a lot of criticism from various former players about the decision. Does it indicate that there is a lack of top-quality English coaches ready to step into the England job and what does it say to someone like Eddie Howe? 

JB: “It’s a perception of somebody’s worth. Very similarly, what’s the problem with the English managers? It’s the perception of the English manager’s worth and the absurd perception and assumption that foreign managers are better, and they are the ones that are being given opportunities in the Premier League. 

There have been Spanish, German and French managers that have been given an opportunity (to manage in the Premier League) that we’ve never even heard of before. 

If you give an English manager an opportunity at any level, and even if we’ve heard of him, if he loses one or two matches, it’s like, ‘They’re not good enough, are they?’

It’s been like that for a long, long time. English managers are always criticised. Look at Graham Potter losing his job at Chelsea. Look at English managers who go to mid-level Premier League clubs, they’re given less time than foreign managers. All the English managers will tell you that. If you speak to Harry Redknapp or Sean Dyche, that’s what they’ll tell you.

If that is a fact for white English managers, why aren’t people accepting that it’s a fact for black managers? There aren’t nearly enough opportunities for black coaches and managers in the game and that needs to change.” 

John Barnes on the double standard of complaints about Tuchel’s nationality and the lack of opportunities for black managers 

JB: “As to whether we should have a foreign manager, I have expanded on that.

The situation is this: I don’t believe that there’s an English manager who’s been given enough time or respect or an opportunity to manage at the highest level.

You would assume that the next England manager is someone who would have been successful at a top club. Gareth Southgate was an anomaly because he came from the u21s impressed and got the job full-time. There wasn’t an outstanding candidate at the time and the FA gave him the job. 

During the recruitment process, you would have thought that the FA would have liked to have considered a successful English manager managing in the Premier League, but there wasn’t any because there are no English managers who are given that opportunity.

Are we saying that English managers aren’t good enough? Or are we saying that football isn’t giving English managers an opportunity at the highest level for those managers to become good enough? 

There’s another demographic of managers who haven’t been given those opportunities, black managers. Why isn’t anybody asking those questions?

Why are we asking the questions about the England manager and saying it’s a disgrace that English managers aren’t being given an opportunity, when there are lots of black managers who aren’t given opportunities? 

Why are there were no black managers being given an opportunity even lower down the football pyramid? Why are there no black managers being given a chance at any level?

In League One and League Two, more than 90% of the managers are English. They may not get opportunities to manage at the highest level, they may not even have been that successful in previous roles, but they’re getting the chance to show what they can do whereas black managers don’t even get that opportunity. 

It seems to me that the lack of black managers isn’t a concern in this country, but the fact that England can appoint a German manager is a major concern. When white managers moan about the decision to appoint Tuchel, then that’s a problem, but black managers aren’t being given a chance at all.” 

Perceptions of English managers and Black managers are completely wrong, but only one is being addressed

JB: “The England manager situation has nothing to do with black managers. The complaints are about white English managers not getting opportunities, which is something that I agree with. It’s a fact: English managers are not getting chances (in big jobs). That’s down to the perception that English managers are inferior to their foreign colleagues. The perception is the major problem here, but if we’re talking about that as a problem, then I want us to start talking about the perception of black managers because it’s a very similar situation. 

The perception of black managers is that they’re not good enough. The perception of white English managers is that they’re not good enough, but we seem to want to address that, and a lot of people are now talking about it. Harry Redknapp, other influential people, everyone’s saying it’s a disgrace (that England have appointed Tuchel). But this has been going on for how many years?

In football, an industry where there are more than 45% black players, how many black managers are there? I will really get involved in this conversation when we start to look at it in a fair manner that addresses the concerns of black managers too. 

People are only interested in it now because it’s affecting white English managers. They weren’t interested with a disenfranchised group who are being neglected, being marginalised. No one cares about them (black managers), but now we have to care about these English managers? 

When you ask other people and other pundits, they’ll say, ‘maybe they’re (black managers) not good enough.’ 

So, when those same people say that about English managers or coaches, they then say let’s create an environment to make them better, be it coaching in the FA and coming up with a coaching program and they get back on the management merry-go-round again. 

99% of these guys are being given jobs in League 1 and League 2. If the black ones aren’t good enough, why not give them jobs in League 1 and League 2, just like the white English managers who aren’t good enough?

We’re really not interested, and that’s the situation, so let’s not pretend. October, Black History Month, comes along and every now and again they discuss black managers: ‘We’ll see what happens until next October and we’ll discuss it again.’ Let’s hope that the English managers don’t have that problem.”

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta talks a good game. Does he need to win a trophy this season to demonstrate that he’s one of the best managers in the game? 

JB: “Well, if football is all about winning trophies, then Ten Hag has been better than Mikel Arteta, but is that statement true? Of course, it isn’t. Erik Ten Hag hasn’t done a better job at Manchester United than Mikel Arteta has at Arsenal because he’s won a League and FA Cup. 

Management success is not just about silverware. Liverpool’s best season under Jurgen Klopp was when we finished second in the league on 100 points to Man City., We lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid, but it was our best season

It’s not about silverware, it’s about winning every single week. Being a team that consistently challenges for the biggest prizes. If you get 100 points losing two matches and someone else wins the league, you’ve had a great season.

You can win silverware by winning the FA Cup because you’ve played Coventry in the semi-final, you can win the League Cup by playing nobody. Is it successful for a club like Manchester United, with its resources to win the FA Cup and finish eighth? It’s that success? 

Success is winning football matches, and you can’t ask any more than that from Arteta.”

Kai Havertz is a player that divides opinion. Do you think that Arsenal can rely on him to score them the goals they need to challenge for the title?

If I’m not mistaken, were Arsenal the top goal scorers last year? They were indeed, so why does Kai Havertz need to score more goals for Arsenal this season? Arsenal scored more goals than any other team last season. For Arsenal to challenge for the title, it’s not about one individual scoring goals, it’s about the way the team plays.

I remember at Liverpool when Salah and Mane were scoring goals and Firmino was chipping in, and we had scored so many goals. Then the problem was that Fabinho, Henderson and Milner didn’t score enough. What would happen if they scored more goals? Mo Salah and Mane would score less.

If Havertz scores more goals, Arsenal will probably score less, but he’ll have more as an individual. A title challenge can never be boiled down to the impact of one player, it’s always about the team. 

At this moment in time, Arsenal don’t need Havertz to score more goals. Arsenal proved last season that they didn’t need a 20-goal-a-season striker, because they play a brand of football where the goals get shared.” 

Talk to me about Bukayo Saka. Where would you put him when discussing the best wide attacking players in the world?

JB: “Bukayo Saka has been fantastic for Arsenal. They’ve given him a chance to showcase his talent in his best position and he has been one of Arsenal’s most consistent players for several seasons now. 

If he joined another club, I don’t think he would do as well because he would be playing a different style of football. 

Sometimes players suit clubs. Players like Jordan Henderson, Mane, Firmino, when they left Liverpool and joined new clubs, they struggled. They suited the Liverpool brand of football and Saka is the same for Arsenal. 

In terms of what Arsenal want, he’s perfect. And for Arsenal to be able to win the Premier League, or when they play well in the Champions League, they need Saka to produce for them because he’s one of their most important players.

I can’t speak highly enough of Saka. He’s a brilliant player. Arsenal play the type of football that suits him down to the ground.”

Manchester United

Given what went on in the summer, are you surprised that Manchester United stuck with Erik Ten Hag going into the new season? 

JB: “I’m not surprised that Erik ten Hag remained at Manchester United. I wonder sometimes what some fans think about their clubs and the people who run them. Did the United fans want to get rid of him and bring in Mickey Mouse? 

At this moment in time, or in the summer, could Manchester United get a better manager than Erik Ten Hag? No, they couldn’t. So why get rid of him? 

There’s no big, huge manager who’s going to come to Man United in the situation that they’re in. 

He’s a very good manager, Ten Hag. What United’s board need to do is tell the players that Ten Hag is not going anywhere, then the players have to perform.

The question is, if we lose today, who are the fans going to boo? And as long as the answer is the manager, the players subconsciously absolve themselves of responsibility to perform. I’ll never accuse any player of not trying. 

Players know the manager is always the man who takes the heat. If an individual player makes a mistake or doesn’t track a runner or doesn’t press, will he be blamed for a defeat? The manager always carries the can. 

When Liverpool played Everton in the FA Cup a couple of years ago, Klopp virtually played a youth team. Even those youth team players knew that if we lose today, the fans aren’t going to blame Jurgen for playing us, so we have to perform. It’s the same at Arsenal and Guardiola at Man City. 

Until the players start to take responsibility, nothing will change there. It’s got nothing to do with changing the manager.

Look at what the Liverpool players have done. Because if Liverpool players underperformed this season, the fans are going to blame the fact that it’s Arne Slot. But they still gave 100% and look at where they are.”

Marcus Rashford is man that gets a lot of criticism. He looks like he’s playing with the weight of the world on his shoulders. How can he get back to the player that we know he’s capable of and would a change of scenery help him?

JB: “Manchester United have got good players, they’re just not performing. The manager has to get them to perform. You know who gets them to perform? The fans, by demanding that they perform or else they get booed, but Manchester United players don’t seem to get booed.

One of those players is Marcus Rashford and he’s been a little bit like that for a while now. When you saw that goal that Tottenham scored, when he overran the ball and Micky van de Ven took the ball, and he stopped chasing – every United player stopped chasing – and he ran through. Who took the blame? Ten Hag. 

All of a sudden, if you’re going to put demands on Rashford to chase back, he would chase back. But there are no demands on these United players. The demands are all on the manager when they lose.

For Marcus Rashford to get back to his best, it starts with putting in the effort, the commitment and the determination. It’s not all of a sudden thinking, ‘I’m going to start beating five players and doing tricks and scoring goals’. It starts with Rashford chasing around, giving 100%. Then from that, he can kick on, but that has to be the start.

If the commitment, the effort, and the determination is not there, then Rashford will never rediscover his best form and get out of his funk. The road to redemption and rediscovering the form that made Marcus such an exciting player starts first with effort and commitment.”

Celtic

Brendan Rodgers turned heads after taking a walloping from Borussia Dortmund in Celtic’s last Champions League outing by saying that he was going to continue to play in the same way. Is his approach a little bit naive in Europe? 

JB: “Celtic have got the best team in Scotland. The problem that Celtic have is that they can play like that in Scotland, play well and win. They will be dominant in 99% of their games in Scotland, so the problem is how to do Celtic adapt or how do they play in the Champions League? 

Celtic have been playing this way every single week, against teams who they should beat and do beat, and then all of a sudden you come up against a new team. What is Brendan supposed to do? He can’t revert to a totally different style for Dortmund away and then change it back for the SPFL.  

Brendan said, ‘We’re going to stick to this and, of course, we’re not going to play Dortmund every week.’ 

If Celtic change tactics, it’s not like they’re going to win the Champions League or they’re going to beat the best club teams in Europe. They might not lose 7-1, but Brendan’s team are used to playing in a certain way, it’s what they do, and he won’t change that. 

In the match against Dortmund, yes, it was a poor result, but Dortmund probably had 12 shots in the entire game and scored seven times.” 

Given the extended format and the fixtures that Celtic have in Europe, would anything other than qualification for the play-offs be considered a failure for Celtic? 

JB: “The new Champions League format, it promotes the fact that the best teams should normally always get into the knock-out stage and it’s going to be mighty difficult for Celtic to finish in that automatic eight, but ninth to twenty-fourth is certainly something that Celtic should be looking to accomplish. 

OK, they lost to Dortmund, but if Celtic beat the teams they should beat, then a play-off spot looks likely.  

Success and failure is determined by who you’re going to play against. People talk about winning your home games in the Champions League, but are Celtic going to beat Real Madrid at Celtic Park? It’s unlikely. 

Celtic need to beat the teams they should be beating – and there are a few of them left to play – and they should be able to do so by playing how Brendan sets his team up to play.” 

Newcastle United

How would you assess Newcastle’s start to the season?

JB: “Newcastle are a bit like Chelsea. In some games, they look like they can beat anyone, but they’re just as likely to get beat in the next game. They are inconsistent at the moment. 

I think Newcastle is a really interesting situation. We know the financial implications surrounding Newcastle, which obviously work against Eddie Howe. They have the richest owners in football, but those resources remain untapped due to FFP rules. 

That status as the richest club in the world in terms of its owners can cloud things and raise unrealistic expectations. Zinedine Zidane isn’t going to turn up and start managing Newcastle and they won’t be able to sign the world’s best players. 

At the moment, there are doubts about the long-term futures of their best players. Isak is on Arsenal’s radar and refusing to sign a new contract, Gordon would have loved to have joined Liverpool in the summer. 

There’s a massive contradiction between Newcastle being the biggest, richest club in the world, a club that should have the best manager and the best players in the world because of their resources, but in reality, the rumours aren’t going away regarding the future of their best players. 

Can Newcastle fulfil the ambitions of their best players and keep them? I’m not sure if they can.” 

There’s a lot of instability at Newcastle

JB: “The quicker Newcastle decide what kind of a club they are, the better things will get. 

For example, if Newcastle believe that the best they can hope for at the moment is the top six and seven, then I think the fans would accept that it will be hard to hold onto their best players. 

If the ambition is to become the next Manchester City and try and dominate English football, then the fans won’t accept players departing for rival clubs. At the moment, I think they’re caught somewhere in the middle.” 

There have been rumblings of unrest between Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell. Is that starting to have an impact on results on the pitch? 

JB: “I’m not close enough to Newcastle to know whether the relationship between Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell is impacting results.

However, I have a lot of empathy with Eddie Howe because when Eddie went there, most people expected him to be the gatekeeper until Newcastle signed the best manager in the world and spent hundreds of millions of pounds on new players because they’re owned by the Saudis.

That was what everyone expected, but it hasn’t quite happened. Eddie was much more than a gatekeeper and did really well. He’s still there now. 

If you look at the way football is going and the people involved in football, I suspect Newcastle are still looking for a huge name and they may feel that Eddie Howe is not the right man, unfairly and wrongly so in my opinion. Eddie isn’t a sexy name, so I expect these problems to continue between him and hierarchy while he’s in the job. 

I think there’s always going to be a situation at Newcastle where the ambition of the club isn’t realistic, particularly when it doesn’t matter who you’re owned by, you still have financial constraints. 

I also think that players will always prefer to go to Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal given the option over Newcastle.”

Apparently, Manchester United are keeping tabs on Eddie Howe. If they came in for him, would that be a job opportunity that is too tempting to turn down? 

JB: “Manchester United are a bigger club than Newcastle, but if he went there, would things work out better than they have for him at Newcastle? At least the Newcastle players will play for him, and I’m not sure you could say with any confidence that that would be the case at Old Trafford.

Will he turn down Man United if they come calling?  I think that Eddie would be jumping straight out of the frying pan and into the fire with that if he were to join them. That’s not to say he won’t do it, because the Manchester United job is something that should appeal to all ambitious managers, but there are obviously at lot of issues at the club at this moment in time.” 

Liverpool

What were your thoughts on Liverpool’s victory yesterday and generally if there was a player or a few players that you wanted to highlight who would they be?

JB: “It was a hard-fought victory for Liverpool. Chelsea played well and that’s the thing, I always said it was going to be a dangerous game, because you don’t know which Chelsea is going to turn up. They’ve got such good players. They’ve spent lots of money. When they perform – if they perform – they can cause problems. They caused a lot of problems yesterday. They dominated possession.

The performance highlighted how together and organised Liverpool are, Arne Slot deserves so much credit for that – he has got his group of players to buy into what he’s trying to do. That’s a massive compliment because his brand of football is different from Jurgen’s. 

In situations where a new manager follows in the footsteps of a legend, there are normally problems. There were problems when Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United. There were problems when Wenger left Arsenal, when Mourinho left Chelsea. Typically, those clubs dip, but there hasn’t been a dip. That’s down to the character of the players.  

Slot has changed the way Liverpool play in midfield, it’s a bit more technical, not as gung-ho, but we’ve got the results and we’re top of the league, so it’s happy days.”

Who stood out from Liverpool vs Chelsea?

JB: “No one player stood out more than normal. I’ve watched Liverpool all year, I’ve been on the pre-season tour with them, they’ve played as a team and in the same style in all of the games that I’ve seen. There’s no individual stand-out players – the star is the team. 

If I had to pick a name, Gravenberch has been the stand-out player this year because he’s playing in a role which no one expected him to play, as a deep-lying number six.

That’s normally earmarked for a defensive midfield player, even Jurgen’s team with Fabinho moving on, they brought Endo in, but Gravenberch is doing it in a different way.

The team has bought into what Gravenberch does, and because of that, he’s been one of our best players. 

Liverpool are playing as a well-oiled cohesive unit who don’t rely on any individual player to be the superstar of the team in order to get the three points.” 

What do you make of Curtis Jones’ early-season prominence?

JB: “In pre-season, he was one of the players who really enjoyed it. I was with him in America, and he’s one of the players that really liked Slot’s approach because that is the type of football Curtis wants to play in midfield.

I think Slot’s brand of football really suits him. He had a little injury and lost his place in the team, but he’s coming back now. Every time he’s been fit, he’s been in the team. I know that Slot likes him and wants players like him. 

Curtis Jones has a bright future at Liverpool under Arne Slot, and I think he could have a bright future in the England team too. It’s only a matter of time before he wins his first senior cap.” 

Arne Slot has overseen the best start that Liverpool have ever had to a Premier League season. Have you been surprised by how quickly he has adapted to life at Liverpool? 

JB: “I wasn’t surprised by how quickly Slot has adapted to life in the Premier League because I know the character of the players, which is the most important thing. 

The best thing Jurgen Klopp did for Liverpool – yes, he won the league – but he signed good characters. All of the players played for Liverpool – yes, they played for him because he signed them – but those players are going to play for whoever the manager happens to be, which is what they’re doing with Arne Slot.

We’ve seen other clubs who, if they don’t like the manager, they don’t perform, and the fans don’t have a go at the players, they have a go at the manager. So, it stems from the players. I’m a little surprised because I didn’t really expect it to go this smoothly this quickly. 

I knew the players would perform, but I didn’t expect them to have completely transformed the way they played and have it work in such a short space of time. I saw Slot’s double sessions up close on the pre-season tour of America, and that work has paid dividends because the players have adapted to his style perfectly. 

When you talk about the strength of Liverpool and Man City, it was the midfield.

Somebody talked about Henderson, Milner, Fabinho and now you talk about Curtis Jones, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai. That’s a chalk and cheese engine room, but they have seamlessly got on with things and are doing great.” 

Barnes praises Liverpool players when outlining the biggest challenge that Slot has overcome

JB: “Arne Slot’s biggest challenge was to get the players to buy into what he’s trying to do.

That is the biggest challenge for any new manager. 

It’s really difficult when a football club has to replace an iconic manager. We’ve seen how challenging it is at Manchester United and Arsenal. The new manager comes in and the fans and the players are like, ‘This is what Fergie would have done,’ and it doesn’t work.

Whereas the players have 100% bought into what he wants, and he’s changed it.

You’ve got Curtis Jones with Gravenberch in midfield, who would never have been the first-choice midfield players for Jurgen, and you would think with that change, it’ll take time, but it hasn’t. We’ve hit the ground running. I have to give praise to the players and praise to Jurgen for buying players with the right character.

The character that these players have is, Jurgen is not here anymore so we’re now going to give the utmost respect to the new manager and try to do what he wants, and the fans have also given him that respect as well.

Even if the fans welcome him, but the players are like, ‘we’re used to Jurgen’s way, and we don’t like this way.’ Slot would be in trouble. The problem with Manchester United isn’t the fans having a go, it’s the players not buying into what Ten Hag is asking of them. 

Ten Hag, all the previous Manchester United managers, they’ve all wanted to bring their own style, but the players haven’t committed. 

At the moment everything is harmonious at Liverpool. The fans are happy if you’re winning matches, because I can tell you. If Liverpool weren’t winning matches, the fans wouldn’t have been as gracious. They would have been, ‘it’s because Jurgen’s not here.’”

When you watch this Liverpool team, what are the main differences that you’ve seen in terms of playing style if you were to compare Klopp to Slot? 

JB: “On one end of the spectrum you have Jurgen Klopp, on the other end of the spectrum you have Pep Guardiola, and you look at the way their teams play. One is much more controlled in possession and has a lot of possession in the midfield, lots of slow passes, slow, quick, tiki-taka, then move forward.

Jurgen was just high energy, up and down, in your face, break forward. Midfield players who just get the ball forward quickly to attacking full backs, they defend, they win the ball. 

Slot is somewhere in between. Liverpool still press and work hard, but they probably don’t have as much possession as Man City do, but this Liverpool team does have more possession than Jurgen Klopp’s side.

He’s Dutch and the Dutch do like the Johan Cruyff type of football, which is all a possession-based game. There’s definitely more of that in there with this Liverpool team.” 

Liverpool contracts

It would be fair to say that Alexander-Arnold could probably pick his next club. The Real Madrid rumours aren’t going away. Would that be a move that is hard to resist when you consider everything that he has won at Liverpool?

JB: “It depends on what Trent wants. If Trent wants to go to Real Madrid, he’s going to go to Real Madrid. It’s a very, very simple thing. If he doesn’t want to go, he’s not going to go.

The lore of Liverpool, his family, being a local lad, if he’s feeling that, he then has the decision to make. It’s a very black and white situation. If there were three years left on his contract and he wanted to go, then Real would have to bid £100 million.

He’s coming into the last six months of his contract. He’ll have options. It’s a very simple situation and only Trent can say with total confidence what he wants to do. 

I would urge the fans not to have a go at the club if Trent, Virgil or Mo go. Do not say to the club, ‘You have no ambition because you’ve got to keep them.’  If they’re going to go, they’re going to, and you do not want to keep players who want to leave. 

In the old days, the club would offer you much less than they could afford and then you’d want much more, and then you come to a compromise. Now, Liverpool are going to offer what they can offer. No more. Trent will then have to decide whether he wants that or not.”

What’s your gut feeling on the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk? Do you expect all of them to sign new deals this season? 

JB: “With modern football, I expect nothing. You haven’t got a clue what’s going to happen, so I can’t tell you if all three will sign new contracts or all three will go on free transfers. 

What I can tell you and what I do expect, and we’ve seen this with every single player that has left Liverpool on a free transfer, the players give 100%. While they’re at the club, they all give 100% effort and commitment. So, it’s not an issue.

The only time there are issues in these situations is when a player wants a new contract and the club won’t meet their demands, but that isn’t going to happen with these three players either. 

I would love them all to stay. Liverpool should prioritise signing the players that want to stay at the club. It’s as simple as that. Liverpool won’t entertain anyone doesn’t want to be there; they won’t jump through hoops for players if they start making crazy demands. 

All we can ask is that those players give their absolute best for Liverpool football club while they’re employed by the club. There’s no doubt about any of them not doing that.” 

Luis Diaz

As someone who knows what it takes to be a top winger, what do you like most about him?

JB: “It’s completely different, isn’t it? Luis Diaz is a right-footer playing in my position, but I don’t remember one occasion where he has gone down the line and put in a cross on his left foot for someone to score a goal. That’s what I did. So, the fact that he’s playing out there doesn’t mean he’s playing in my position. 

Mo Salah is left-footed. He’s playing on the right. If Mo Salah played on the left, then we can make a direct comparison, because we both played in a similar position. If I was playing today, I’d be playing on the right, coming in to score goals. I wouldn’t be creating a goal for anybody else, because that’s the way modern football is.

Diaz is a very individualistic player. He’s a very good dribbler, beats players, scores goals, but he doesn’t create a lot for others, but that’s what he’s in the team to do. He’s not there to create for anybody else, he’s there for people to give him the ball and for him to score goals or come in field and make passes. 

He’s done better than I expected. It’s hard coming from Portugal and adapting straight away. He really has been on fire since he came.

The fans love him because he’s got a lot of strength and he’s very, very quick and very skilful, energetic. He always gives 100% in and out of possession. He’s a real Liverpool type player. He’s probably been our most consistent player from the front three so far this season. 

Mo’s got a lot of goals, a lot of penalties, but sometimes he dips in and out of games. Diaz has been our most dangerous player for the full 90 minutes every time I’ve seen him play.”

Liverpool in the Champions League

Leipzig’s owners have just appointed Jurgen Klopp to oversee their football operation. Does the fact that Jurgen is involved in some capacity add a little bit of spice to this game? 

JB: “The fact that Jurgen’s joined the Red Bull Group of clubs adds absolutely no spice to this game. None whatsoever. Jurgen is not with Leipzig on the bench. Jurgen is not the manager. He’s not telling the manager how to play. He’s not telling the manager who to play. He has no influence on that game whatsoever. He’s overlooking the football operations of Leipzig, in terms of sponsorship, and in terms of being the figure to then deal with the clubs. But in terms of what goes on the field, he has no input.

There isn’t a manager in the game that would put up with that. It’s a nice story for the press, but there’s no manager at any of those Red Bull clubs that will put up with Jurgen coming in and telling him who to pick in his team and how to play. Jurgen wouldn’t even do that anyway. 

It’s a lovely job for Jurgen to have because he’ll carry no influence over winning football matches at all, so therefore he has no influence over losing football matches, so he’s not going to get criticised.”

Liverpool objectives

Can Liverpool win the title in Arne Slot’s first season in charge? 

JB: “Liverpool can absolutely win a trophy this season. I don’t think a trophy should be the barometer of success for Liverpool. If we finish second in the league by one point and lose one game, and we lose in the FA Cup final, does that mean it’s a failure? Of course not.

This whole idea of winning trophies… I’d much rather get closer to winning the Premier League than winning the FA Cup, because winning trophies, by that metric, Erik Ten Hag has been a huge success and Manchester United should be delighted with him because he’s won two trophies.

So yes, it’s about winning trophies, but it’s about doing as well as you possibly can in the league and the Champions League. The others, you can be lucky. You can play in the FA Cup, not play one Premier League team and win it. Does that mean you’re a success? Wigan won the FA Cup and got relegated.”

Chelsea vs Newcastle

What do you think of Chelsea v Newcastle coming up this weekend?

JB: “I think on the pitch, Newcastle are probably more consistent in terms of what Eddie Howe has at his disposal and in terms of how they perform. 

Chelsea, they performed really well against Liverpool. They lost but they played really well. Consistency is their biggest problem. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if they didn’t play well next week. That’s always going to be the problem. 

If Chelsea perform, Chelsea will beat Newcastle. I think with Chelsea, they need someone to score goals. Jackson is a good player, he works hard, he’s scored against Liverpool, but he’s not a clinical finisher. They play well but they don’t score as many goals as they should, considering the players they actually have on the pitch. Newcastle can turn them over, but it really depends on which Chelsea turns up on the day.”

Arsenal vs Liverpool

This will be the most difficult fixture that Arne Slot has faced. How do you think he will approach this game and how do you think he should approach it? 

JB: “Liverpool don’t change the way they play because of the opposition. They didn’t under Jurgen Klopp, and they won’t under Arne Slot. Manchester City don’t change the way they play regardless of where they play and who they play. Arsenal don’t change the way they play. 

It’s not a question of whether Slot goes for it or not. He’ll play exactly the same way. 

The Chelsea result and the timing of that was good for Liverpool. Chelsea was a big test, but Arsenal away is a bigger test. It would have been more difficult going into this game having not played Chelsea – there would have been more pressure – but we’ve just beaten a good team, so who says we can’t beat another one? 

It’s a big game in the sense that Liverpool are playing against one of their big rivals, a team with similar points to you. I’m glad that we’re going into this game off the back of playing Chelsea rather than playing teams who we would be expected to roll over. The players will be sharp. 

It is going to be a big test but it’s also going to be a big test for Arsenal.”

If you could pick one player from the Arsenal team and drop them into the Liverpool team, who would it be and why? 

JB: “If I had to pick one player from Arsenal and put them in this Liverpool team, it would be Declan Rice, and I would play him in a number 6 role like Rodri. Rice wouldn’t be allowed to go forward and score goals. 

Ryan Gravenberch has done a great job there. I don’t think the 6 is his natural position, and he’s done fantastically well in the eight games he’s done it.

At the highest level if you need a number 6, Gravenberch is not going to be a defensive midfield player who can win the ball and protect the back four when you’re playing against teams who are going to dominate possession.

I think that Declan Rice does that job better than Gravenberch. Don’t get me wrong, Gravenberch has performed the role admirably, but if you’re talking about taking one Arsenal player, then I would pick Declan Rice because I do think that Liverpool will miss not having a proper defensive midfield player – they’ll be times over the course of a season where they will need one.

Odegaard is a great player, but we’ve got lots of flair players who can do what he does, so it would have to be Rice.” 

Do Arsenal have a discipline problem?

JB: “I don’t think Arsenal have a discipline problem. I mean, Saliba got sent off against Bournemouth because he pulled Evanilson back after a bad back pass by Trossard. That can happen. 

I don’t think they’ve necessarily got a discipline issue. The three teams who are favourites to win the league are Man City number one, but I don’t think Liverpool or Arsenal necessarily have an advantage over each other. 

The margins are extremely fine when determining which team is better between Arsenal and Liverpool. Both have the capability of winning the league, both are normally very consistent and can put winning runs together. Come the end of the season, they’ll both be there or thereabouts.”