Boss levels: Anfield stages meeting of new likely lads

Around the turn of the year, when five of the major European clubs were looking for new managerial candidates, one official involved in recruitment let out a sigh.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

“There is nothing in football as difficult as choosing a coach,” came the complaint.

The frustration was from the fact that there are so many variables, especially when a manager moves from one financial tier to another. They might have the right style but not the right personality. They might fit the tactics but not the culture.

Although clubs are trying to add real science to this, feeding the details through algorithms, there’s still a huge element of human trial and error. You can’t always account for how a manager’s approach translates to a different dressing room.

Tonight’s Champions League game at Anfield offers a twist in that sense, given the Bayer Leverkusen manager, Xabi Alonso, could indeed have been in the Liverpool dressing room, in place of Arne Slot.

Given those challenges in selecting a manager, it is striking how perfect Alonso seemed for Anfield. The Basque had of course played at the stadium, as a hugely admired midfielder who was key to Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League win. That ensured he had the experience and personality to handle big stages, which has lent itself to a persuasive managerial charisma.

At the root of this is a hugely sophisticated tactical ideology, one that Alonso’s personality helps apply. It was only more attractive that the approach has elements of Jurgen Klopp’s game, with all of this contributing to the historic achievement in breaking Bayern Munich’s hold on German football by winning the domestic double unbeaten.

There are further echoes of Klopp in such managerial alchemy. Alonso simply seemed perfect. And yet, it’s difficult to believe that even someone so ideal as the Basque could have done as well as Slot. The Dutch manager’s start is as close to perfect as you can get in terms of results. It’s been remarkable.