Arne Slot must make Liverpool change after unexpected truth emerges

Arne Slot may have not yet started his role as Liverpool head coach in earnest, but already the Dutchman is set to join an exclusive club at Anfield.

In replacing the departed Jurgen Klopp, Slot will become only the fourth person in almost 40 years to take over as Reds boss for the start of a league season.

And the Dutchman will hope to buck a trend that has hampered even some of the best managers in Liverpool's history - and one of the least successful.

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With Klopp having taken over in October 2015, the last manager to assume charge in time for the start of a campaign was Brendan Rodgers, who saw his Liverpool side thumped 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion in his first competitive game on the opening day of the 2012/13 campaign.

Rodgers had replaced Kenny Dalglish, whose second stint as boss lasted 18 months having been ushered in midway through the 2010/11 season following the calamitous reign of Roy Hodgson. While Hodgson had opened with a Europa League win at Rabotnicki, his first league game was a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal.

Before the ex-England boss came Rafael Benitez, who again helmed a win in Europe before a 1-1 draw in his first Premier League game as Reds manager at Tottenham Hotspur. Gerard Houllier took sole charge a few months into the 1998/1999 season, although for the record the brief joint experiment between Houllier and Roy Evans began the term with a 2-1 league win at Southampton.

Both Evans and predecessor Graeme Souness were appointed partway through a season, meaning Dalglish, on his first stint in charge at the start of the 1985/86 campaign, is the last sole Liverpool manager to take over before the start of a campaign and then win his opening league game, in the Scot's case 2-0 at home to Arsenal. The Reds went on to win their first and only league and FA Cup double that season.

Even Joe Fagan, who won the treble in his first season as manager, started with a draw at Wolves in 1983 having already lost the Charity Shield - now the Community Shield - 2-0 to Manchester United at Wembley.

Slot, then, will hope to defy a pattern from history when Liverpool begin the new season at promoted Ipswich Town on August 17.