Arne Slot has responded to Wayne Rooney’s claim that the Liverpool head coach does not have the “aura” to manage the club by pointing to his Premier League title success last season.
Rooney questioned Slot’s suitability for the job, telling The Overlap: “I have met him a few times. He was a nice fella but I just don’t think, for Liverpool, he’s got that aura about him. Maybe this is because you have just come off the back of Jürgen Klopp and it’s going to be difficult for anyone to have that, but I just don’t think there’s that aura about him.”
The former Manchester United striker said it was “strange” for Slot to be in an apparent “audition” to keep his job so soon after winning the league but believes failure to qualify for the Champions League would lead to the Dutchman’s sacking. Liverpool sit sixth and play at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“We are all different,” Slot said in response to Rooney’s aura comments.
“The only thing we have in common, Jürgen and me, is that we both won the league – and that’s not too bad, is it? I think the more a manager wins, the more aura he has.
“I don’t know if you agree with Wayne Rooney, by the way, but if this would be the general opinion then I think people would probably tell you last season I had more aura than this season.
“But maybe he’s the only one who has this opinion; I don’t know, you tell me. It’s the first time that I heard this but I think it’s fair to say that Jürgen definitely has an aura. I can talk about him, not about myself, but he definitely had that. But a winning manager has an aura as well.”
In the reverse fixture three months ago against Forest, then managed by Sean Dyche, Liverpool lost 3-0.
At the City Ground Slot will come up against Forest’s fourth head coach of the season, Vítor Pereira. Dyche’s strained relationship with Forest’s players was a key factor in costing him his job, indicating where the balance of power is in the modern game.
“I like to do what I’m doing now and that’s enough for me,” Slot said. “It doesn’t matter who’s the most important person or not at the club. I think it’s always the owners, isn’t it? They have to hire the sporting director, they have to hire the head coach. If they make the right decisions then it’s a better chance to be successful.”
*PHOTO CAPTION: Rooney (left) and Slot.
