After taking over for Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot has spent his first few weeks observing training sessions as well as games to gain a sense of the playing philosophy and ethos of his new squad.

On a three-year contract, Slot took over for the storied German at Feyenoord, where he won the Dutch Cup and the Eredivisie league championship. On June 1, Slot began his official tenure as Liverpool’s head coach.

For his first public speech on Wednesday afternoon, he stated that he has been working very hard behind the scenes and that he communicates with fellow rookie Richard Hughes, the sporting director, on a daily basis.

The 45-year-old stated, “This is a good time to come here and talk to you,” expressing a desire to postpone any media appearances in order to honour Klopp’s farewell celebrations. To be clear, though, I have already had a lot of communication with staff members and I don’t start today.

“From the employees who work here to the new hires who are joining the team—and, of course, Richard and I call each other nearly every day because we need to talk.” To make sure the team is prepared for the upcoming season, this is also a crucial stage.

Slot revealed he has been watching old training sessions to learn how his players work be

“I’ve already watched a lot of games and training sessions.” The fans are aware that we have some excellent players because, of course, they can watch the games. However, I’ve also observed a lot of training sessions, and I believe this is the moment to introduce the culture.

“As the fans witness during the game, they are constantly working hard.” Although (it is a) very excellent squad with very talented players that managed to win for a very long time, I believe that ultimately we would all want to see Liverpool finish a little bit better than third, and this is the issue we are currently facing.

Naturally, to learn more about the players, as you primarily see them during games. You also want to know about their training methods, culture, and familiarity. If you are Klopp’s and Pepijn Lijnders’ successor, I believe it’s always intriguing.

He spends a good deal of time working on the training pitch to find out what their ideas were. As I mentioned before, we all attempt to learn a little bit from one another. Usually, this is accomplished by watching games, but you can also benefit by seeing how they train.

Slot was eager to clarify that he will be his own man when he takes over the sizable shoes of the German manager, even though he was willing to acknowledge that he will take ideas from Klopp and Lijnders.

 

When asked if there will be a significant shift at Anfield, he replied, “Yes.” I’m sporting the new jersey, so obviously things have changed, but a lot has remained the same as well. The most significant factor, in my opinion, is that the players haven’t changed.

We will see a lot of similar things as we attempt to improve on what Jurgen left behind. Naturally, though, I also bring my own perspectives to the table, and I believe that’s also expected of me.

In the weeks leading up to preseason, Slot plans to finalise his team, having already begun the process of hiring his own coaching staff.

I introduce Sipke Hulshoff, who has been my Feyenoord assistant for a number of years. I used to work with him at Cambuur Leeuwarden, a long time ago. He served as Ronald Koeman’s assistant on the Dutch national team as well, but he will now start with me, Slot said.

‘Then we will bring in a performance coach, Ruben Peeters, who is going to help me and the club with – how would I put this in English words? – the way we are working on the physical side. 

‘Us three have worked together at Feyenoord for three years now and we know how we want to work, which is normal. And then there’s a replacement in the goalkeeping staff as well – we’ve brought in Fabian Otte, who was working at Borussia Monchengladbach and is still now with the USA team at the Copa America.

‘So those are the first positions we filled in and I think we are still looking for one or two other positions. I just said in the beginning of the interview that Richard and me are calling each other a lot, not only about this but also about the positions we still have to fill in.’