Arne Slot has done a quite remarkable job during his first season in charge at Liverpool.
After Arsenal’s draw against Everton on Saturday, Slot’s Reds need just 11 points from their final eight matches of the season to win the Premier League title.
Rewind to last May, and nobody in football would have predicted this would have been possible.
Liverpool fans, players and staff were reeling having just lost Jurgen Klopp after almost nine years of glorious success at Anfield.
Slot certainly had a big job on his hands, but has built on the legacy left by Klopp and is ready to take Liverpool into a bright future.
As good as things are looking under the Dutch coach, however, goalkeeper Alisson Becker has admitted there’s something he still misses about having Klopp as Liverpool manager.
Alisson Becker misses Jurgen Klopp hugs
The Liverpool squad that looks set to fire the Reds to the Premier League title is still very much one assembled by Klopp.
As a result, it’s only natural that many of the players heading for success under Slot still have deep feelings for Klopp.
After playing under the German for six years, Alisson is one of those. And speaking to BBC Sport, the Brazilian detailed the ‘special’ feeling of receiving a hug from the former Liverpool boss.
“Having his hug is like your dad coming up after the game and saying ‘well done my son!'” smiles the goalkeeper. “Jurgen is a special manager and he will always be special for all the players who played for him. That hug is a way that he shows his feelings as well.”
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“It was always special to have that,” Alisson adds. “In the Champions League final there is footage, the camera follows him hugging all the players and you can see he really hugs the players how a father hugs a son.”
Asked if he misses getting a hug from his old boss, the 32-year-old admitted that he did. “I miss it! ” he laughed. “[He’s a] special friend.”
Andy Robertson missing Klopp too
As well as Alisson, Andy Robertson was also asked to comment on the fabled Klopp hugs.
“I just think he was probably quite a loving person, he was always going about the training ground giving hugs just before games and coming off games or whatever,” says the left-back.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 30 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 70 | 27 | 43 | 73 |
| 2 |  ArsenalArsenal | 31 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 56 | 26 | 30 | 62 |
| 3 |  Nottm ForestNottingham Forest | 31 | 17 | 6 | 8 | 51 | 37 | 14 | 57 |
| 4 |  ChelseaChelsea | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 54 | 37 | 17 | 52 |
“But that’s the person that he was, he wanted to create a good atmosphere and wanted everyone to feel a part of it.
“It made you feel important and that’s what created a really special atmosphere, everyone was happy going into work and I think he was the head of that and was a large factor of why that was possible.”
Slot is a very different personality and is not quite the papa bear Klopp eventually become to his players. But the 46-year-old is clearly aware of that and has bonded with his players in his own special way. The truth is that you can never truly replicate a Klopp hug, so what’s the point in even trying?
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