Liverpool’s new head coach Arne Slot has spoken publicly for the first time since officially being named as Jurgen Klopp’s replacement.
“(I’m) Excited, really looking forward to the new challenge which is ahead of me,” Slot began as he spoke to Liverpool’s in-house media for 20 minutes.
The Dutchman went on to discuss the conversations he has had with his predecessor, his style of play, his new staff, ambitions and what comes next.
Here, The Athletic picks out the key talking points from the 45-year-old’s first interview as Liverpool boss.
Klopp’s legacy
Whoever Liverpool chose to replace Klopp, the pressure was going to be immense. The German left huge shoes to fill and Slot’s task is to continue the excellent work his predecessor carried out over the past nine years.
Slot has kept a keen eye on the rivalry Klopp and Liverpool had with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, labelling it as a “fantastic era” and praising the “tremendous job” Klopp did.
The new head coach already knew former assistant manager Pep Lijnders, but he has spoken to Klopp to gain the best possible insight into the squad he is inheriting, saying: “He gave me more than a few good tips.”
Liverpool’s detailed recruitment process for Klopp’s successor led them to Slot being their primary candidate because of the similarities in their team’s style of play and their vision of developing talent. Change is coming, but Slot is taking charge of a set of players built to play in a possession-based, high-intensity team.
“We are going to try to work on what Jurgen left behind and we will see a lot of similar things. But, of course, I bring my own things to the table,” he said.
Slot has been busy at Liverpool’s AXA training centre (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
The role of head coach and the club’s hierarchy
“It is the way I have always worked and it for me is the ideal way of working because I can use the most of my time by working with the team.”
Slot is Liverpool’s first head coach with the club having always appointed managers in the past. It points to a change in approach to responsibilities.
Behind the scenes, Liverpool have undergone a significant change in senior backroom staff with the return of Michael Edwards in a new role as Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football, overseeing football operations, and the appointment of Richard Hughes a sporting director.
Slot said there was little difference between a head coach and a manager, but the former role allows him to “go in fully to the things I would like to do,” which is spending time on the training pitch and working with the team.
He will still have influence in Liverpool’s recruitment and be consulted on key situations such as contracts for current players but the aim is for more of a holistic approach rather than there being one person with all of the power and in charge of everything.
Hughes, for example, will lead the discussions about the contract renewals of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
Ambitions
Slot was never going to make a bold statement like “we are going to win the league” in his first interview, but it is clear that he is aiming to claim the biggest pieces of silverware with Liverpool.
There is always pressure on the Liverpool manager, whoever they are, to bring trophies back to Anfield and on top of this Slot is following someone who won the biggest prizes in world football while at the club.
“We would all love to see Liverpool a bit higher than third place and that is the challenge we are facing now, to build on from what we have,” Slot said.
To win the Premier League, Liverpool will require more than the 82 points they picked up last season and Slot is under no illusions as to the challenges he faces.
“There is a change but the change hopefully isn’t that big, because we still have the same players, we still have the same fans — and if the both of them are going to do the same job, that will make my life a lot more easy,” he said.
“I’m expecting them to show up again in the upcoming season, and the same for the players. I will do everything within my interest and power to lead the team in the best possible way.”
The Arne Slot era has begun at Liverpool — and The Athletic has every angle covered.
Work is under way already
“I don’t start today,” Slot said and while he has spent time relaxing on holiday, he has barely let himself switch off. He has been in contact with staff and has been speaking to sporting director Hughes on a daily basis.
Slot knows the importance of building relationships with staff and his players. Klopp left such a big imprint on the club that the new head coach must get everyone pointing in his direction and understand how they all work.
Slot decided not to contact his new players before the end of the campaign but his first call was to his new captain Van Dijk. He has spoken to a handful of other players too, but has been conscious of not disturbing those who are competing in international tournaments. He has chosen to take a watching brief, and wait to meet them in person rather than phone calls or Zoom meetings.
Establishing a bond with Van Dijk will be key for Slot (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Pre-season planning is underway and Slot acknowledged training time will be crucial as he begins to implement his style of play. Fitness will also be important, but with time on the training pitch set to be limited during the season, no minutes can be wasted during pre-season.
“I will be really focused on the training ground. I think there is the place where you can influence the most and you have to influence the most, because you have to influence your players, common to (the) game model and your game plan. And I think that’s where it’s all about — to find a way of playing which suits the players the best and then adjust,” Slot said.
What is Slot’s ‘game model’?
Slot is a known admirer of Guardiola but he has been influenced by a number of other coaches including Klopp and Roberto De Zerbi. He is also a fan of Marcelo Bielsa, Jorge Sampaoli, Luciano Spalletti and Mikel Arteta.
At Feyenoord, Slot played an expansive possession-based 4-2-3-1 that encouraged slick attacking play and demanded hard work and intense pressing out of possession.
It is that “game model” — a phrase becoming more common in football — that Slot will be implementing at Liverpool. There are similarities to how Klopp set up his side, but he is far from an identical replica.
“The playing style will not be completely different. But it would be strange if we would do exactly similar things, because although I’m the replacement of Klopp, I’m not exactly similar to him,” said Slot.
“When something has been successful (with) a certain way of playing you would like to extend this or to go on with this. This is probably one of the reasons they came to me as well. It is my style but I think it is the style of many modern coaches at the moment: we were all a bit inspired because of the rivalry between City and Liverpool.
“We were all inspired by Guardiola and Klopp and I think at a big club, which I worked in in Feyenoord as well, it is probably the only style you can play — to have the ball a lot, to have a lot of energy.”
Having players like Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Salah and Alexis Mac Allister at your disposal allows you to continue to play with the same ball-dominant principles Slot implemented at Feyenoord.
Watching videos of old training sessions
Training sessions can offer coaches a different insight. They are where the culture is set and hard work is instilled in everybody.
A 90-minute match is only a snapshot of the work that is being done every day, all season. By watching footage of old past training sessions, Slot will have been able to analyse each player and their attitude and application — providing him with a greater insight into what he is inheriting.
It points to the level of detail that the Dutchman is going in to with his preparations. He is leaving no stone unturned and it should help him and his coaching staff shape training sessions that best suit the squad.
“It’s always interesting if you are the successor of Klopp and also Lijnders, who does quite a bit of work on the training pitch, to see what their ideas were on the training pitch. I said this, we all try to steal a bit from each other — mostly this is done by looking at the games but if you can see the way they train, that can only help you,” said Slot.
Slot knows he owes a debt to Klopp (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
“Let one thing be clear: the players are not going to get all the same exercises again — we will implement our own things. But it’s interesting to see what they did during the week.”
Staff incomings
Klopp’s departure was not the only one at the end of the season with coaches Lijnders, Peter Krawietz and Vitor Matos leaving alongside goalkeeping coaches John Achterberg and Jack Robinson, and head of fitness Andreas Kornmayer.
It left Slot with vacancies to fill, and as usual, a new head coach wanted to make his own appointments.
“You want to take some people with you as well because they know who you are, they know your playing style and they can translate this to the other people in the staff. But if you go to a club like Liverpool there are a lot of good people working here as well.
“We are going to use hopefully the best of both worlds to implement a few things from us and to use the knowledge that is inside this club already.”
Sipke Hulshoff has worked as Slot’s assistant at Feyenoord and says: “Both of us know exactly what we want when it comes to game model, playing style.” He was also Ronald Koeman’s assistant manager for the Netherlands but he stepped down from the role before the European Championship.
Ruben Peeters is also joining Liverpool from Feyenoord. He was head of performance at the Dutch club and Slot suggested his role would be geared towards “working on the physical side”.
Fabian Otte, who was previously a goalkeeper coach at Burnley, is also arriving although he has not worked with Slot before. Otte, who was goalkeeper coach at Borussia Monchengladbach, will join up with Liverpool once the USMNT’s Copa America campaign has ended as he is also their goalkeeping coach.
The recruitment process from Achterberg’s replacement was led by Hans Leitert who was promoted from his role as goalkeeping consultant to FSG’s head of global goalkeeping, alongside Hughes, with Slot consulted.
The influx of new staff has not finished and “one or two” more appointments will be made.
Other sporting influences
It has become an increasing trend for coaches to look at other sports to try and learn from them and implement the things they like into their training sessions or team meetings.
When looking at other sports, Slot has taken methods from cycling and tennis when conducting team meetings to help get his message across to his players by using examples.
“It’s not going to be the situation that players are going to listen to all kinds of other sports. Sometimes I use it but only if I think it’s necessary,” Slot said.
(Top photo: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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