... In our first half, Slott introduced a bit of calmness into Klopp's attacking tactics, and the results were terrific. As time passes, Klopp's attacking tactics are being unlearned, and you see a different team that has lost its attacking identity.
That is not trying to downplay what Slott has achieved. Deliberately or accidentally, he has stumbled upon a formula that has gotten close to delivering the league. Get us over the line, and he would rightfully take his place among the LFC managerial greats. At the same time, I can't wonder about his effectiveness if the perfect storm of conditions is not available—Salah and Van Dijk's performance while acknowledging that his tactics contributed to Salah's resurgence, City and Arsenal collapsing, the benefit of attacking tactics from an all-time great still fresh in players' heads.
I'll be honest and I look at this view as trying to force a narrative. In Klopp's final season we scored 86 goals in the PL (2.263 p.g.) whereas this season we are on 72 to date (7 games to go) so virtually identical (2.323 p.g.), therefore we are on to emulate that. I think it's likely we won't quite match it but maybe by only by a couple of goals. Over the Last 10 games we've scored 22 so 2.2 per game, not exactly slowing down and those 10 included some of the toughest games of the season. The only time we've scored less than 2 in those games was this week against Everton. Overall that's currently 15 goals more than City and 16 more than Arsenal.
For balance we've conceded 30 goals (4 more than Arsenal and 5 less than the next lowest - Palace), 0.968 p.g. vs 41 in 2023/4 or 1.079 p.g., again virtually identical though I think it more likely we'll concede no more than maybe 36-38 this season, looking at the remaining games (4 at home).
We all knew Slot's style of football before he arrived so we knew that his teams try to exert more control. However, even if the style of football is undergoing a metamorphosis, the attack and number of goals scored hasn't suffered. What is interesting is that the possession stats for the Top 6 teams are massively down this season compared to last (though ours are down less, 61% to 58%) so maybe that's to do with a more competitive PL (Forest, Villa, Newcastle, Fulham etc.). City have the highest possession this season, at 61.2%, but it wouldn't have made the Top 3 last season.
Now we can say oh that's because of Mo. and Virgil but for every team it's the same story, top scorers have a major influence and ditto top defenders. If Arsenal didn't have Saka and Saliba they wouldn't be 2nd, if City didn't have Haaland and Dias they would be mid-table, where would Forest be without Wood and Milenkovic or if Newcastle didn't have Isak and Burns where would they be? Chelsea have the goals spread around more but then they've scored 18 less than us whilst conceding 7 more and what if they were without Palmer and Ceicedo?
It's easy to take out the best two players and say ... what if. When Haaland has a great season City win the PL. If Mo. had say only 18 goals (placing him joint 3rd with Wood in the PL Top scorers list this season) instead of 27 would we still be top? Possibly because we'd still have the highest Goals Scored in the PL and with a GD still 3 goals better than Arsenal's.
Yes Slot inherited a far better team than most on this forum (inc. me) gave them credit for - but he has forged a title winning team by virtue of becoming a little more defensively sound (those 3 goals yesterday really hurt our stats and the perception) allied to continuing to match last season's goal tally.
The Summer is going to be VERY interesting this year (I can already see BB, Bino and Moran salivating at the prospect) and it will be even more interesting to see how the team professes / regresses next season when Slot has had a full pre-season and a few of his own players, at his disposal.