DUBAI: Former Liverpool hero John Barnes believes a major factor in the club’s Premier League success last season was down to the character of the players Arne Slot inherited from the departed Jurgen Klopp.
The Dutch coach, who led the club to the coveted league title during his first season in charge, will see his team kick off their 2025-26 campaign at Anfield on Friday night when they play Bournemouth.
Barnes has praised the way both Slot and the players conducted themselves.
“It’s very interesting, because of course when Arne Slot came, there were no new signings, no changes,” Barnes, a two-time title winner with Liverpool in 1988 and 1990, told Arab News at the Adidas Flagship Store in Dubai Mall.
“He did very well to have won the league with Jurgen’s team, if you like, as much as we did change the way we played. But I knew that because of the character of the players that he had, that they would buy into what he wanted.”
Barnes, also a former England international with 79 caps, said the transition from a legendary manager to a new one was not always a smooth process.
“You see (it) a lot of times when a new manager comes in, and particularly following an iconic manager,” he said. “As we’ve seen with Man Utd and Alex Ferguson, with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, the team dips … this team hadn’t dipped and that’s to do with the character of the players.
“It went better than we probably expected, but now all of a sudden, with the signings we’ve made, everyone expects it to go even better which is dangerous, because we’ve won the league at a canter. Are we now expecting the new players to win the league by 20 points? No. It’ll take time for the players to blend.”
This summer has seen several big-money signings, including Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz. Many pundits have named them as favorites to retain the title, but Barnes says there needs to be balance when a host of new players is signed.
“He [Slot] changed it once again to bring in more technical players,” Barnes explained. “We’ve got Wirtz, Ekitike, and [Alexander] Isak (if he) comes, but of course, balance is important. I expect (Liverpool) still to be the favorites to win, but I don’t think it’ll be at a canter like it was last year.”
Barnes does not believe there will be automatic pressure on the new signings, particularly if the club is doing well.
“There’s more pressure on someone going to Manchester United, because they’re expected to bring Manchester United back up, rather than just maintaining what we have,” said Barnes. “So the pressure’s always big at big clubs, but I think the harmony there is at Liverpool is very good, the relation between the fans and the club and the players is good, which means that the players will be relaxed … rather than at other clubs where you have to perform but the fans are going to turn against you, or the harmony’s not particularly right.”
Barnes also believes that while strengthening the squad is essential, success doesn’t always depend on new faces.
“Having finished fourth or fifth or third the year before, and not signing any players, we’ve won the league,” he said.
But he added expectations will increase following that somewhat unexpected success: “The danger is, all of a sudden now, are we going to do even better? Which isn’t necessarily so because it’s a transitional period. It’s almost like they had no pressure last season. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as it was last year for us.”
Barnes also reflected on how football has evolved since his retirement, particularly in the areas of professionalism, business and the global reach of the Premier League.
“From a marketing point of view, from a business point of view, it’s surpassing American football, surpassing everything,” he said. “From the business aspect, it’s much more impressive than it was. One thing I don’t particularly like about it is it’s kind of losing its relationship with the community, because once upon a time, every football club had (that). You were part of the community; now, football players are being treated like Hollywood stars, which they’re not, because they’re normal people from the community who happen to be good at football.”
But on the field, he argues, football remains the same at its core — even as tactical evolution reshapes how teams approach the game.
“The game doesn’t change. You’ve got to win tackles; you’ve got to play football. That doesn’t change at all,” he said. “The quality isn’t any better. You can’t tell me that anybody playing now is better than Diego Maradona, or when I played that we were better than Stanley Matthews 50 years earlier. It’s all the same. So the quality is there, but it’s just the business of football that’s changed.”
Finally, would Barnes have enjoyed playing as part of the modern Liverpool team under Klopp or Slot, perhaps as an inverted winger like Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane?
“Absolutely, because I’d be scoring all the goals,” he said, beaming. “Mo playing when I played wouldn’t score those goals [he’s scoring today]. He’d be going down the wing to put crosses in for the center-forward. Now, until Erling Haaland came, the whole idea of a center-forward was lost to the game of football because we always had Marcus Rashford or Mo or Mane playing. As much as they’re playing wide, they’re coming in on their favorite foot to score goals.”
He also discussed the balance between traditional central strikers and the vogue for versatile attackers.
“I was top scorer in the First Division when I played down the middle for one year, but I was never a goal scorer,” he said. “I always use the example of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke. Andy Cole was a No. 9; Dwight Yorke was a No. 10. One year, Dwight Yorke scored more goals than Andy Cole, but Andy Cole is a goal scorer. So as much as I scored a lot of goals, if I didn’t score, it didn’t bother me. Whereas for goal scorers, if they don’t score, they’re not happy.
“If you look at Erling Haaland, he can touch the ball five times and score three goals. I could not be happy with that because I always want to be involved. Goal scorers are very few and far between (today), whereas in the old days, with Gary Lineker, Ian Rush, Ian Wright — these players just wanted to score goals.”
As the new Adidas Liverpool kit adorns the shelves, there is a reminder of the mental resilience needed to make it in the game through the mantra of “You’ve Got This.”
“Everybody handles pressure in different ways. There’s no right or wrong way,” said Barnes. “It’s like when a penalty shootout comes up and there are certain players who can handle that pressure and certain players who can’t. We’ve got players who are fantastic footballers, very confident, but in a penalty shootout, they don’t want to take one. I don’t think it’s necessarily something you can actually coach. And that’s why the best players have that natural ability to be able to play in front of 100,000.”
He added: “If you trust your technique, you know what you’re doing, that’s where the psychological aspect of competition comes into it. In all aspects of life, but sport particularly, it’s not something that you can just automatically get or you can even learn. I think (of all) the top people in the world, that for me is one of the biggest things they actually have in their armory — being able to handle the pressure.”
