Wayne Rooney’s comments about Arne Slot this week caused quite a stir, but it’s now the Man United legend who’s in the firing line.
There has been a common criticism of Slot at Liverpool, and it stems from the fact that he is yet to fully step out of Jurgen Klopp’s shadow.
He has been subject to comparisons since the day he arrived at Anfield.
Rooney said Slot doesn’t have the aura he thinks is necessary for the Liverpool job.
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That claim started a debate, and Simon Jordan is the latest to throw in his two pence.
Simon Jordan takes aim at Wayne Rooney’s career in management while defending Arne Slot
The talkSPORT host is never shy of expressing his true feelings, and Rooney’s comments on the Liverpool boss clearly rubbed him the wrong way.
Jordan has stuck by Slot through the roughest patches of the season, and has taken issue with the claim that he is lacking some intangible trait that makes a good manager.
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In response to Rooney, he says sarcastically: “It’s a fair observation that Wayne makes because I like expertise in these areas and obviously Wayne showed no aura in his management career.
“So he’d be able to recognize it and lacking in someone else’s.”
He questions the basis upon which Rooney is making this judgement, and suggests that there are different ways in which to measure ‘aura’.
Arne Slot during Bournemouth v Liverpool - Premier League
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Jordan continues: “he operates in a different way, but that’s media facing. We don’t know how he is with his players. We don’t know how his players respond to him and whether they think he’s got an aura, whether they think he conducts himself in a way that gets the best from them.
“Last season, many people would say well, I tell you what, if you come in in your first season aura-less, right and win the Premier League, then stay with that lack of aura.”
There was no universe in which Slot would come to Anfield and be another Klopp. It’s just not possible. But the idea that we should be assessing managers on the basis of something as tenuous as ‘aura’ just doesn’t fly.
Slot will be judged on results and performances, not aura
It’s been well documented that an end-of-season review will be carried out with the Dutchman, after which a decision will be made on his future.
FSG are likely to stick by him if he can qualify for the Champions League, and certainly if Slot wins the FA Cup or goes all the way in Europe.
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Jordan comes out with some questionable takes from time to time, but this one is bang on. What matters is what happens on the pitch, not the perception of a coach’s personality.
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