Arne Slot told to 'look down the road at Man Utd' in warning over Liverpool test
Former Liverpool winger Jason McAteer has been impressed with Arne Slot as head coach of the Reds but he reckons the bigger tests are to come for the Dutchman
by Chris McKenna · The MirrorArne Slot has been warned he will have to come through adversity at Liverpool and that will be his biggest test.
The Dutchman has got off to a flying start to life at Liverpool with the Reds top of the Premier League table after seven games with six wins and just one defeat.
They have also won their first two Champions League outings while progressed in the Carabao Cup. It couldn’t be going much smoother for Slot on Merseyside but now the Reds are heading into a big period.
They face Chelsea this weekend before travelling to Arsenal with home games against Brighton, Aston Villa and Manchester City in the next six weeks. They also have European ties with RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid as well to contend with and a trip to Brighton in the League Cup.
Now former Reds midfielder Jason McAteer reckons Slot will face his first big tests when results and injuries start to go wrong.
“Everything is calm at Liverpool,” McAteer told GamblingZone. “It's ticking over nicely. Positive results really help that scenario.
“You only need to look 30 miles down the road at Manchester United to see the difference that positive results bring. Slot hasn’t faced any moments of adversity yet, but they will come.
"If Liverpool start losing a few games or if they pick up injuries with key players, then we’ll see how he handles that. “He’s also going to have to make decisions on rotating his players.
“That will be coming as the games start to stack up, but he hasn’t really had any of those problems to deal with yet because it’s very hard to change a winning team as a manager.
“He's done remarkably and it's been brilliant, but there are questions to be asked which he will face later down the line.”
Slot will also have to realise that taking the domestic cups seriously is a must, according to McAteer. And he warned that even in his first season, it will be seen as a failure at the club if they fail to win a trophy.
“Arne Slot is learning every day by having the job in the Premier League, where he's never managed,” McAteer said about the former Feyenoord manager.
“He's learning about all the other teams, all the other players, the intensity, the pressure – he’s dealing with completely different scenarios than he would have faced at Feyenoord and he’s also navigating the Champions League.
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“Liverpool fans want to win silverware, so there is an importance on placed on the domestic cups.
“I think navigating that and getting to grips with all of the games will be his biggest challenge because Liverpool fans won’t accept throwing those competitions away.
“The club's expectations and the fans' every season is to win whatever competition you're in. The mentality and the mindset of Liverpool is very much we go to win everything, and we expect to win everything.
“If you fall short, that’s a failure. As much as that might not come out, using the word, that’s how it would feel in the club.”
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