‘Arne Slot is the world’s best manager right now – he has blown everybody away’

Liverpool may have been beaten in the FA Cup last weekend and given up a lead at Everton in midweek, but make no mistake, Arne Slot is the world’s best manager right now

Liverpool got a bit of stick for losing to Plymouth in the FA Cup, but it was their second string with a few superstars in it.

It was still Liverpool Football Club, but it wasn’t the team that’s been top of the Premier League or competing in Europe. I understand the rotation in that game and if we look at the Everton game, they conceded a late equaliser. But that’s still a point away from home and they are seven points clear now.

You can see the passion in all the players at the end of the derby – Curtis Jones, the sendings off. Liverpool are the best team in the league and they’re the ones to catch.

They are at home against Wolves on Sunday. That’s the perfect game for them. Wolves are decent in terms of individuals and have been doing better. Matheus Cunha will be a problem. But Liverpool have so many options in attack and Arne Slot, in this moment, is the best manager in world football.

He has to be because you’re top of the Premier League, you’ve topped the Champions League league stage and you’re in the League Cup Final. They lost to Plymouth in the FA Cup, but that wasn’t Liverpool’s first XI.

Look at the other leagues in Europe and they topped the Champions League league stage with 21 points. Seven wins from eight and they lost the last game after he made many changes because they had qualified.

But the most important thing for him will be to be considered as the best manager in the world at the end of the season because that means he will have succeeded.

Many people, myself included, said this is going to be a transition season. I couldn’t see Liverpool finishing in the top four.

He has blown everybody away with how he has been, so right now on the back of a game where we have seen one of the most important goals in the history of Everton Football Club, we’ve got the best manager in the world.

You think Mo Salah is going to get the last goal in the old stadium in the Merseyside derby and then, in his 100th game, James Tarkowski smashes it home in the last seconds to get the equaliser.

I’ve seen some unbelievable goals from Everton whether it was Barry Horne against Wimbledon in 1994, Paul Rideout in the FA Cup final, the great team that won two leagues in the 1980s, Rooney’s goal against Arsenal when he was just 16…but that goal from Tarkowski probably goes down in history as one of the greatest.

It’s amazing how managers can transform teams.

I’m a huge fan of Sean Dyche, I thought he did great with Everton. But David Moyes comes in, he knows the club, he’s got a connection with the supporters and now look at their situation.

He has got Beto scoring, and he’s got players performing to the highest level. It’s amazing how a manager and coaching staff can transform a group of players who were struggling.

It’s credit to Moyesie, his willingness and his desire still, after what he has achieved in the game, to get them performing like this.

They’ve gone from a team, who looked like they might be involved in a relegation battle to a team who look like they’ll finish mid-table. Amazing.

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