Arne Slot puts focus on training and tactics to make Liverpool contenders
Jürgen Klopp’s successor is unfazed by the lack of signings at Anfield as he strives to close the gap on Manchester City
The man in the Liverpool manager’s chair – sorry, head coach’s chair – does not grumble once about kicking off the new Premier League season in Suffolk at 12.30pm on Saturday and was bemused by England’s obsession with transfers. “When I walked in here the screen had Sky Sports on and the whole day they are talking about football,” he says with a note of genuine surprise. “There is a lot of speculation in this country. Is there a player they don’t talk about?” Arne Slot is still coming to terms with the English football industry, clearly. All that matters to Liverpool, however, is how quickly he grasps the English game.
Slot has adapted swiftly to Liverpool’s players and they to his meticulous attention to detail on the evidence of an encouraging pre-season that included victories over Real Betis, Arsenal, Manchester United and Sevilla. Calmer and more controlled in possession than the Jürgen Klopp era, in keeping with the contrasting personalities of the two men, Slot’s Liverpool have also impressed in front of goal as they look to remedy a flaw from last season. But that was pre-season. Newly-promoted Ipswich at a vibrant Portman Road now await Slot for the first competitive game of his Liverpool career and the first league match of his career, as either player or coach, outside the Netherlands. The 45-year-old insists he is well-prepared for the intensity of the Premier League.
