Secrets of Arne Slot’s ‘Physicality Monsters’ as Liverpool outrun and outgun Man City and the Premier League: Black eyes, residence saunas and one star’s rollocking from the supervisor

Jurgen Klopp used to call his Liverpool team the Mentality Monsters. Arne Slot‘s rendition is more like the Physicality Monsters.

It does not have the same ring to it. Nor is it as sexy, all this running around lark. But as they close in on a second Premier League crown, it is the warrior-like trait of each and every player that is underpinning this almighty charge to the finish line.

At full-time on Sunday, Dominik Szoboszlai sank to the turf, drenched in sweat, face on grass. It was a scene one would expect at the finish line of a marathon when the famed ‘runner’s high’ gives way to an overwhelming exhaustion and pride at the mammoth task just completed.

His midfield buddy, Alexis Mac Allister, looked like he had just done 12 rounds with Oleksandr Usyk. The Argentine, carrying a mug of maté – the popular South American herbal tea – and a bag with a picture of him lifting the World Cup in 2022, had a black eye and swollen cheek.

Nothing a bag of frozen peas would not sort but those were the battle scars on show in the bowels of the Etihad Stadium, where walls are decorated with the Manchester bee. The emblem symbolises the city’s hard-working unity and belief.

Funnily enough, the worker bee also acts as a fitting illustration of this Liverpool side. Mohamed Salah is the queen bee who takes all the plaudits and brings home the nectar but, for him to thrive, he needs the collective sting of the relentless pack behind him.

Enough bee puns now but there was a buzz on Sunday night as the Reds stars left the stadium where they had failed to win in the Premier League since Manuel Pellegrini was City boss. These two teams have had a great on-pitch rivalry but, right now, there is a seismic gulf.

While some players such as Szoboszlai and Mac Allister sported evidence of their mammoth shift, some carried no visible signs that they had just done battle and gave every last drop of fight for their team to take home not just three points but a clean sheet.

Virgil van Dijk, smelling and looking as pristine as ever, was already thinking forward to arriving home and getting in his home sauna. ‘Tunnel vision on the next game,’ as he always says. The heat of his sauna stimulates muscle recovery while the calmness helps to reset the mind.

Salah was there too, having a lengthy chin-wag with Pep Guardiola. The relaxed Egyptian looked like he could do another 90 minutes. In his decade in England, no player has tormented Guardiola like Salah – and likewise if not for Guardiola, Salah’s trophy cabinet would be bigger.

Salah, of course, is the chief goalscorer and creator – but his off-the-ball workrate is an often unheralded trait that Slot adores. With 89 minutes on the clock, Trent Alexander-Arnold got a rollocking from the boss for jogging and not sprinting back into position. He was substituted.

Slot constantly drives these high standards and has done since the day he arrived. At first, the former Feyenoord manager may not have got the respect he deserved from the English public but he certainly convinced the squad from week one. Many spoke of loving the new regime.

The backroom staff are also having a big impact, from fitness coaches knowing just how hard to push players, to Aaron Briggs, the technical coach who dreamt up the corner routine that led to Salah’s opener.

Briggs, once an analyst at City, is not the official set-piece coach but takes this on and changed the corner-takers. The play was manufactured on Saturday, though it is believed they only scored from it one time in training! Clearly, they saved the best for the matchday.

Guardiola’s men were toothless in attack but hardly put in an abysmal display. On the Let Me Talk City podcast, club experts nearly got into double figures when naming performances this season that have been worse. It was more that the away team were too good for them.

Liverpool’s win was multifaceted but the central theme was the aforementioned hard-working mentality. Nobody summed that up better than the Hungary captain Szoboszlai, who ran 11.5km (7.1 miles) and could not even hear the ‘we’re going to win the league’ chants due to his tiredness.

The 24-year-old is one who threatened to set the world alight last season, starting in supreme style after his move from RB Leipzig, but his level fell off a cliff after Christmas. Under Slot, he has been one of the Reds’ unsung heroes and his rare absences have been felt.

‘Dom is really important for us,’ said Mac Allister. ‘I think you could see physically he is really good… he can score and also assist. He is doing really well and is really important for us. We complement each other really well and we are happy to play with each other.’

If you were making a list for the most distance a Liverpool man has covered in individual matches this season, Szoboszlai would feature seven times in the top 11. He often runs more than any player, according to the statistics, and often at the same intensity for 90 minutes.

According to Opta data, Liverpool players have made more ‘runs’ this season (4,224) than any other team in the league bar Tottenham. They rank fourth for the most sprints which, given they often dominate, is a surprise as players tend to run more when they are chasing the ball.

Curtis Jones is another who does not get the plaudits he deserves but is trusted by Slot to play in a multitude of roles. Harvey Elliott, often talked about in the same breath as Jones in the past, has not started a single Premier League game this season – though he has been injured.

Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch have made a formidable duo at the heart of midfield, too.

Aside from Salah, Liverpool do not have the certified game-winners like City perhaps have had in the past four years – think of Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, prime Ilkay Gundogan, even Riyad Mahrez or Sergio Aguero going back slightly further.

But the Reds do have a collective fighting spirit that is underpinning this title charge. Now, like when a new monarch ascends the throne, Liverpool’s coronation will be a drawn-out process and the final game of the season is still three months away (May 25).

Seven of their final 11 matches, though, are at Anfield and what a treat it will be for those loyal supporters who could not see them lift their first league title in three decades in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Tickets to see them do so in May will be like gold-dust.

Captain Van Dijk has vowed to make Anfield a ‘horrible’ place for teams to come, starting with Newcastle on Wednesday. There is also a chance, if results go how many expect, that Arsenal could give Liverpool a guard of honour when they come to Merseyside on May 10.

‘I mentioned after the Wolves game, that obviously it’s pretty normal to be like that,’ said the Dutch defender, referring to the anxiety at Anfield. ‘It is a human (instinct) that there could be some anxious feelings kicking in, and that could still be the case.

‘But I think it only helps us and them (the fans) as well to make Anfield horrible for the opponent.’

Whether at home or away, Slot’s side have been horrible to play against ever since he first came to these shores. All through the season there have been ifs, buts and maybes about whether Liverpool will stumble – now the only question is when, not if, they will get their crown.