Arne Slot has been sneakily peeking at past Liverpool training sessions to nick a few tricks from Jurgen Klopp’s playbook.
The new Reds manager has spilled the beans on the graft he’s been putting in ahead of his first pre-season kick-off as the main man at Anfield next month, in his first office interview since taking the job. And he’s admitted his eyes are set on outdoing the German’s Premier League feats from last season.
Slot, who took the reins officially on June 1 after his stint at Feyenoord, has been poring over video footage like a hawk to suss out the team he’s taking over. The Dutch mastermind has confessed he’s not shy about lifting a few clever moves from Klopp and his right-hand man Pep Lijnders.
READ MORE: Ex-Miss Croatia Ivana Knoll makes Euro 2024 return in plunging top – ‘distracting’ players
READ MORE: Alan Shearer slams Man Utd’s ‘mess’ and says they lack respect over Erik ten Hag
“I’ve seen many games already, I’ve seen many training sessions as well,” Slot dished out. “Of course the fans can see the games, so they know we have some very good players. But I’ve also seen a lot of training sessions already and I think this is where you bring the culture, and they are always working hard like the fans see during the game,” reports the Liverpool Echo.
He’s got two reasons for doing his homework. Slot said: “There are two things (why) to do this. Of course to get to know more about the players because mostly you see them during the games.
Do you think Arne Slot is a good replacement for Jurgen Klopp? Let us know in the comments section below
(Image: Liverpool FC)
Learn more
“And you want to know also what the culture is, how they train and what they are used to. I think it’s always interesting if you are the successor of Jurgen Klopp and also Pepijn 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. 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 also during the week.”
(Image: Liverpool FC)
After landing third place in the Premier League the previous season with 82 points, Liverpool secured a Champions League comeback following their stint in the Europa League. Slot has ambitions for the Reds to ascend further this upcoming term.
“Real good team, real good players, managed to be on top for a very long time, but I think in the end we would all love to see Liverpool a bit higher than third place and this is the challenge we are facing now to build on from what we have,” he disclosed on the official Liverpool website.
“I have all the confidence in this because of the players, that we can add a few things where we hopefully can get a bit more points than 82, which is necessary with the likes of Arsenal and City, to end up hopefully a bit higher than we did this season.”
Slot also revealed he has already held talks with a number of the Liverpool squad, including captain Virgil van Dijk. The Merseyside outfit currently have 14 players away on international duty at Euro 2024 and Copa America.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I’ve reached out to a few of them,” he said. “All of them after Jurgen left, because I thought that was really important to be fair to Jurgen and be fair to the players.”
The 45-year-old, who won the league with Feyenoord after previously taking them to the Europa Conference League final, said: “Then I think it’s normal to start with the captain, which is Virgil [van Dijk], which is an easy one for me because we could speak Dutch!
“And from there on I called a few others, but not many of them because most of them are in preparation, or at this moment playing, at the Euros, and some others are in preparation at the Copa America.
“So I think the best way is to keep a certain distance but also be interested in them as well. And hoping that most of them – especially the Dutch! – will still be as long as possible away so they will reach the final.
“Then afterwards I will get to meet them and I think that’s a better way of getting to know each other than by phone or Zoom meetings.”