Arne Slot has hit the ground running as Liverpool’s new manager and has impressed many with his team’s performance during the opening Premier League weekend.
Liverpool got their league campaign off to a solid start with a 2-0 victory against Premier League newcomers Ipswich at Portman Road last weekend.
While questions have been raised over the lack of incoming players at Anfield and uncertainty over the futures of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, Slot has enjoyed a good start to life at the club and has deployed a slightly different playing style, compared to the ‘heavy metal’ football we have become used to under Jurgen Klopp.
During the opening weekend, Liverpool showcased that they are playing a much more possession-orientated game, with their defenders squeezing tighter together, while Andy Robertson was also interestingly seen switching behind Van Dijk to collect possession in defence.
Slot is set to get his first taste of Premier League action at Anfield on Sunday, as the Reds welcome Brentford to Merseyside.
And he is keen to stamp his own ethos on his new team, insisting that he wants his players to judge the ‘risk and reward’ of situations better than they did under Klopp.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash at Anfield, the 45-year-old sat down with Jamie Carragher, who quizzed him on how he is trying to change things at Liverpool following Klopp’s departure.
‘Liverpool used every moment they could to play the ball in behind [before],’ the Dutchman told Sky Sports.
‘That meant that the game was sometimes a bit open, especially in the last period of Jurgen. Sometimes I tell the players to get a better judgement in risk and reward.’
‘So if you can put some balls in front of the goalkeeper, please try and do so if not, it’s also a good idea to keep the ball but I’m sure if Jurgen was in the room now he’d say he’d want to keep the ball once in a while too. In general, I see that still some players are trying to play the difficult ball which doesn’t get the reward for the risk they take.’
But while things are starting to change at Liverpool in the post-Klopp era Slot stressed that there were a lot of similarities in both manager’s philosophies, which is why he believes players are ‘buying into’ his ethos.
One task on his and Richard Hughes’ to-do list is to deal with the contract situation that has been hanging over Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold.
All three players are in the final year of their respective deals at the club and Liverpool’s lack of action to re-sign three of their best players has caused alarm among some fans.
Alexander-Arnold has been linked with a move to join Real Madrid in recent months and was notably seen holidaying in the USA with England team-mate Jude Bellingham. His departure, in particular, could be a huge blow for the Reds, considering his age, 25, the talent he possesses and the fact that he hails from the city too.
Slot, though, stated that all three players held their own destiny in their hands.
While he was unable to give any insight into the inner workings of any contract extension talks, he urged all three players to continue performing at their best.
‘The main thing for all of them, if you’re out of contract or not, is to [deliver] the best performance possible and there is where I should and will help them with my staff, to bring out the best of them. Until now it’s been nothing but positive,’ Slot said.
‘Mo came back really strong in terms of physique, Virgil as well, Trent did the same and they brought in good performances against Ipswich which was only the first game. My main focus is on Brentford and not on contract extensions.’
