The difference between Arne Slot and Erik ten Hag could not be clearer. Now in his third season at Manchester United , the latter was dismantled by the tactical approach that the former used in his first trip to Old Trafford with Liverpool this weekend.
Slot has been with the Reds for a matter of weeks but he already has the Anfield side playing the kind of soccer that he demands . There is more work still to be done but even so, the start couldn't have been much more promising.
Liverpool's new head coach was so dominant against Manchester United and so clear in his message that he was even able to explain post-match exactly how he did it. Slot isn't box office in the way that Jurgen Klopp was, but he is authentic, calm and delivered some astute observations.
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"Last season, they were man-marking on the midfield, and they had a press with the seven and 11 (the wingers) — so with the striker, and one of the wingers jumped with him," he explained live on Sky Sports.
"This season, they are more with a 9 and 10 press, so they're more in a 4-4-2. So that's different, of course. I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball is being played through them, so they run more. That's at least what I saw in their first games.
"Their style is also — this is maybe last season, I don’t remember that well — but their full-backs, nine out of 10 times, are really high, and then Casemiro comes in between. So, if you pick up the ball and you can keep Luis Diaz and Mo Salah high, then you're constantly in a one-on-one situation.
"Then you need midfielders that can run, and we had three of them today that kept running, and if they arrive in a duel, they are aggressive enough to win it. So that was, I think, one of the main reasons why we could win today."
While Slot was outlining the thought process behind his tactics, things were a little more tetchy with his Dutch compatriot Ten Hag. In his press conference, he snapped back at a reporter who questioned whether he was the right man for the job.
"We have players to build in during the season — today we had two or three players in their first start of the season and they didn't play 90 minutes," Ten Hag began. "We will be fine but it is clear we have to improve. At the end of the season, I'm quite confident that we will have a big chance to lift another trophy."
When the reporter listed off the things that went wrong — losing the ball in dangerous areas and giving up bucketfuls of chances, to name just two — Ten Hag was dismissive of such suggestions.
"You are sure?" he said with a laugh. "I don't think so because otherwise we wouldn't win trophies as we did beat big opponents. I'm sorry for you but I have another vision. I think we won after Manchester City the most trophies in English football so I am sorry for you."
It wasn't a great look but it shouldn't be a huge surprise that Ten Hag — and Manchester United, in fact — is refusing to accept the need for change. He only stayed in a job during the summer because of the FA Cup final and regularly last season, Manchester United conceded 20-plus shots on goal per game.
The Red Devils' numbers suggested they were fortunate to finish eighth. With little improvement in the playing roster, it was never going to suddenly improve - and the only difference between this edition of the fixture and the one last April was that Liverpool took its chances in the first half.
That has to change for the Old Trafford side to make progress. Slot knows it and indeed everyone knows it — apart from, seemingly, Manchester United and Ten Hag himself.
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