Arne Slot’s Liverpool team has gone into this international break at the top of the Premier League table. There are many people pointing to the club’s ‘easy’ start to the season, to say nothing of the incredibly difficult run that we’ll go through when the Reds return to action, pointing out that we’re in a false position right now.
There is no doubt that there is a touch of realism about such comments, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t dream.
"What no one is telling you"
Like we've played the games in secret. We're on telly practically every week.
I think people probably know who we've played. https://t.co/VE4ik7URze
— Ian Ryan (@Ian1892T) October 5, 2024
The truth is that a lot of the underlying numbers around Liverpool’s performances thus far have been suggestive of a team that will be able to sustain the level that they’ve been operating at. It is not as though we are massively over-performing our xG, for example.
The idea that Arne Slot might well be able to win the league at his first time of asking isn’t outrageous, but which other Liverpool managers did the same thing?
Is it fair to say that Joe Fagan won the league at the first time of asking? After all, he took over a side that Bob Paisley had made into a winning machine at a club that Bill Shankly had turned into one of the best in the world. Yet the fact remains that Fagan was given the manager’s job on the second of July 1983 in the wake of Paisley’s retirement, taking on the mantle of those that had gone before him and made Anfield a ‘bastion of invincibility’.
The Reds had won the First Division in 1980-1981 and 1981-1982, so in some ways Fagan’s main job was just to keep things ticking over. That is easier said than done, of course. Some would’ve said that that was all that Paisley needed to do, yet even he didn’t win a trophy in his first season.
Admittedly he won at least one trophy in every other season at the club, but the point still stands. Fagan, though, won a treble in his first season.
What might surprise many is that the Reds didn’t start the season all that brightly. Things began with a 1-1 draw with a newly promoted side in Wolverhampton Wanderers, showing that it isn’t just modern day Liverpool that struggle with such matches. What Fagan managed to do, though, was to balance the demands of the First Division, the League Cup and the European Cup so successfully that he ended the season with all three trophies to his name.
Yes, Liverpool were a winning machine at the time, but that doesn’t take away from what he and his team managed to achieve when they won against Roma.
That made Liverpool the first team in England to win three major trophies, with part of the joy being that they held off Manchester United, amongst others, to win the league title and defeated Everton in the League Cup. Add in the victory over Roma at their home stadium and you can see why it is that that team is considered to be one of the best in the history of football.
In the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster, Joe Fagan decided to step down as Liverpool manager. The club turned to Kenny Dalglish and asked him to take on the role of player-manager, with the 34-year-old stepping up to the plate. The season before had resulted in the Reds missing out on the First Division title to Everton, being knocked out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage and not even making it past the third round of the League Cup.
Add in the fact that they missed out on the European Cup in such tragic circumstances, the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, finishing as runners-up each time, and you would be hard-pushed to call this a ‘winning machine’.
@football.xis When Kenny Dalglish won the double as both player and manager with Liverpool.. #fyp #foryoupage #footballtiktok #footballedit #liverpool #liverpoolfc #dalglish #premierleague #footballstories #football #fypシ
Dalglish’s debut season as manager began with a home win over Arsenal before a draw with Aston Villa and a loss to Newcastle United. It is fair to say that his side took its time to find its groove, with a loss to Ipswich Town at the start of February being followed up with a draw against Manchester United and a loss to Everton.
Given that it was the Blues that we were fighting for the title, that could’ve been mortally damaging. Instead, the Reds won 11 of the final 12 league games of the season, beating Everton to the title by two points. They also defeated Everton 3-1 in the FA Cup final to ensure the double.
Arne Slot has made an impressive start to life as Liverpool's head coach
Are #LFC showing that they are serious Premier League title contenders?#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/tQIElKU3DH
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) October 7, 2024
If you wanted to, you could make a comparison between the state of Liverpool when Kenny Dalglish took over from Bob Paisley and the side that Arne Slot has inherited. It won the league under the previous manager as well as the European Cup, but didn’t win anything in the season prior to the new boss taking over.
Whilst both Fagan and Dalglish were in a much better position that Slot, it isn’t outrageous to suggest that Jürgen Klopp left the club in rude health when he departed in the summer. Will Slot win the title this season? Probably not, but there is precedent to suggest that it’s possible.
The post What Liverpool Managers Have Won the League in Their First Season? appeared first on Friends Of Liverpool.
