Liverpool winning the Premier League is a thorn in the side of Manchester United fans.
This can’t, however, be questioned in terms of their deservingness. Right now, LFC are better than the rest of the Premier League. This does provide an excellent opportunity to see where United went wrong.
After all, the current champions went from Jürgen Klopp to Arne Slot and managed to win two titles under two separate managers since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped away. There aren’t situations when comparing clubs that are ever identical. So it will always be something of an apples-to-oranges comparison. It is a results-oriented business, however. And the fact remains that against the same competition, Liverpool have fared better than Man Utd since SAF’s departure.
Stark difference between Dutch managers in the EPL
This becomes particularly painful to admit when noting who led LFC to their second EPL win. Slot has had more success in the Prem as a Dutch coach than a certain other former United gaffer. Erik ten Hag’s tenure had a lot of split opinions but ultimately ended unceremoniously.
A lot of specifics did not go right while he was there. In general, there wasn’t a sense of connectiveness, and it rarely looked like ManU was forming an identity and progressing in a meaningful way while ten Hag was in charge. The signings that occurred while he was also with the club were also often puzzling, and a lot of money was wasted on players who didn’t fit at the club.
Compared with Slot, he has seemingly taken over, and the train, as it were, has kept on chugging along. Again, it would be unfair to directly compare the two managers. There is, however, a notable development that is worth noting between the two Dutchmen.
Ryan Babel speaks on recent Man Utd history
While speaking with BesteOnlineCasinoNederland, former Netherlands international Ryan Babel discussed the two differing aspects between the approaches of ten Hag and Slot. He shared his analysis during the interview:
He approached it differently than other Dutch managers. Usually you get an invasion of Dutch players or staff members at a club when a Dutch manager steps in, while those players often have no experience at international level.
It’s common for anyone taking over to want to have a chance to compete at a new position with ‘their guys.’ That can lead to a certain level of success, but often the best people who take over, first take the time to properly assess the areas of strength and weaknesses and leave the parts that are doing well while improving on aspects that need help. Exceptions exist to any generality, but in general, a complete overhaul usually does more harm than good.
In Babel’s comments, he is noting how Slot took a look at what Klopp had left him and only made the needed tweaks where he felt they were needed. He noted how, under ten Hag and Louis van Gaal, the similar characteristic of wishing to manage players who are already familiar is part of what eventually led to their downfall in the Prem.
Looking at the present
Now with Ruben Amorim, Man Utd fans are seeing someone who has stuck with his formation. He also brought in his staff from Sporting CP. There have also been some new additions since he took over. For the most part, he has given a clean slate for all of the players who were on the squad, and fans have been able to see who would potentially do well under the Portuguese manager during the 2025-2026 campaign.
This difference from past men in charge, particularly highlighted during Babel’s conversation with BesteOnlineCasinoNederland, could prove to be a key part in the turnaround in Manchester.
