With pre-season approaching, Arne Slot will be meticulous in his planning for Liverpool training, with one particular incident recounted by Mo Salah that higlights his attention to detail.
Jurgen Klopp was an exceptional manager, perhaps one of the greatest-ever to coach the game.
For Arne Slot to live up to his legacy and continue to build on Klopp’s success tells you Liverpool have a very special man in charge.
This was apparent from early on during Slot’s first pre-season sessions after arriving, Salah telling one story in particular that underlines the Dutchman’s conscientiousness.
Salah told NBC at the beginning of May: “In pre-season I remember he got a few clips of me in the warm-up – it’s the warm-up!
“I was doing like this (keepie-ups) and he was like: ‘What is that? Look at that, you have young players behind you and all of them follow’.
“He is very honest and speaks to you right away. I think that makes a huge, huge difference.”
For Slot to say this directly to Salah, an experienced, model professional, it made the coach look assured in his role, commanding respect from the off.
It is also testament to the developmental mindset of those athletes, like Salah, in the Liverpool squad, that will take on advice without viewing it as criticism.
While Liverpool tweaked their system as the season progressed, much of the work to get ready physically and tactically came during pre-season, and the players can expect the same this summer.
Conor Bradley noted the hard work put in last year, saying: “I think we probably had a meeting or two every day – which I think is important as well because we need to understand what the gaffer wants.”
Departing defender Jarell Quansah also commented on the intensity of training, adding: “We’re working tirelessly on the pitch and on the training pitch especially.
“There’s been a lot of double sessions that it’s just so much tactical work and so much we need to take in. We’re doing that, and hopefully, bit by bit, it’ll come.”
Liverpool are set to begin their 2025 pre-season on July 8, with the first friendly at Preston just five days later.
Unlike last year, they should have a squad that is almost complete for that first fixture, whereas they had to deal with international tournaments disrupting preparations last summer.
Given Man City and Chelsea‘s participation in the Club World Cup impacting their preparatory plans, Liverpool will hope to take advantage of a unusually unhindered pre-season.
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