Arne Slot’s behaviour on crew bus speaks volumes after admitting Liverpool star is sad
Arne Slot will need to rely on his excellent man-management skills to ease Federico Chiesa’s frustrations after leaving the Italian forward out of Liverpool’s upcoming Champions League squad
Arne Slot has already shown his ability to manage disgruntled players using a method that’s “worth its weight in gold.”
The Liverpool head coach admitted last week that Federico Chiesa was unhappy after being left out of his Champions League squad. The Italian, 27, will not feature for the English champions in the league phase of the competition, with Slot selecting 17-year-old wonderkid Rio Ngumoha over the Euro 2020 winner.
Chiesa made a vital contribution by scoring late on for the Reds on the opening day against Bournemouth in August. But he has seen less than 50 minutes of playtime in total across Liverpool’s first four Premier League matches.
Had the club managed to bring in Marc Guehi on deadline day, Chiesa would have likely made the squad. That’s because new signing Giovanni Leoni, who cannot be registered as a homegrown player for Liverpool, might have been left out as Slot wouldn’t have needed an extra defender.
Chiesa ultimately fell victim to Slot’s decision, and the Dutchman revealed ahead of Sunday’s match against Burnley that the forward was disappointed. “Of course, that is one of the most difficult things you have to do as a manager,” Slot admitted.
“For a player not to play, it is not always easy to tell them, but not to be in the squad is always more difficult. I just explained to him why we made this choice. Of course, he wasn’t happy with that.
“I think he understood my arguments – that is not to say he agreed with them. He didn’t tell me, by the way, that he didn’t agree with them! But he gave me the answer you want to hear from a player, that he will be there to help the team in the cups and in the league.
“That’s one thing to say but I think he also showed this because he wasn’t selected but he worked really hard these days to be ready for the upcoming days. That is even more important than what a player tells you.”
According to Panathinaikos striker Cyriel Dessers, Slot knows exactly how to handle such scenarios and his man-management skills will undoubtedly prevent the matter from escalating any further. The Nigeria international was once left equally frustrated by Slot’s decision to bench his then-star striker at Feyenoord.
However, the manager succeeded in changing Dessers’ view through an honest discussion on the team bus, which eventually transformed the player’s career trajectory.
Dessers recalled: “When I was at Feyenoord, there was a match Arne Slot started with Bryan Linssen instead of me against Heerenveen. I was so disappointed.
“I came on 10 minutes before the end. It was freezing cold, the match was already over, nobody really wanted to go forward. I came on with a really poor attitude because I was so disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to start.
“After the match, Slot sat next to me on the bus. I’ve had managers who got angry in such a situation. But he actually said in a very normal and calm way that he understood how I felt.
“He also explained why he had made his choice. I apologised, he said again that he could imagine my emotions. I walked back to the back of that bus and felt like it was out of my system. I still think back to that one conversation sometimes. There, Arne proved to me that he is not only a good manager, but also a good person.
“I sometimes miss that empathy in football with the media, with the fans too, who sometimes forget that a player is only human. The world of football is hard, sometimes unreasonable. So it’s worth its weight in gold if you have a manager who treats you normally, honestly and with understanding.”
Liverpool’s Champions League journey gets underway on Wednesday evening as they host Spanish giants Atletico Madrid at Anfield.
