PITTSBURGH -- It wasn’t long into his explanation about the challenges of following Liverpool legend Jurgen Klopp that new head coach Arne Slot felt it necessary to remind the assembled media in general, and The Sporting News in particular, that he’d also won some trophies himself at Feyenoord.
Fair enough. This was not the first time he’d been asked this question, although it probably was the first time since he and (a portion of) his Liverpool FC squad landed in the United States for a three-game friendly tour. And he did win the Eredivisie, the Netherlands first division, in 2022-23. And Feyenoord claimed KNVB Cup, Holland’s top club competition, this past season. And Slot did get a result in 81 percent of the games he coached, which included a .653 winning percentage.
“I think if you go to one of the biggest clubs in the world, there’s always pressure,” Slot told The Sporting News at a news conference last week, where Liverpool began the tour with a 1-0 victory over Real Betis at Acrisure Stadium. “I’ve already explained in Liverpool that you can look at it two ways: You can be afraid for his legacy, but you can also look at the fact he left behind a team that can win things.
“I’ve won a few trophies as well at Feyenoord, and I’m hoping I can do the same over here, as well. That’s the aim we’ve got, and my aim as well.”
For a coach in a league like the Netherlands’ Eredivisie, the opportunity to take over a club at Liverpool’s level might be more inviting had the Reds experienced some dismal years. It’d be hard to decline under any circumstances, though. He’s now in charge of a mostly young team that challenged for the Premier League title before finishing behind Arsenal and four-straight champion Manchester City. But Slot has basically doubled his salary.
To whom much is required, much is given.
The deep forward corps, with the exception of Liverpool great Mo Salah, primarily comprises young talent: Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez are 25, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are 27. The midfield is younger still: Harvey Elliott is 21, Ryan Gravenberch is 22, Curtis Jones and Dominic Szoboszlai are 23 and Alexis Mac Allister is 25.
Superstar right back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has been a regular since the 2017-18 season, still is only 25. He is entering the final year of his contract. An extension seems prudent given his Liverpool roots and abundant talent.
“We’ll just keep trying, I would say,” Slot told reporters, and he wasn’t any more illuminating in regard to transfer acquisitions other than to suggest he expects some activity.
“The standards are really high when it comes to bringing in new players when we have such a good team and such a good squad,” Slot said. “Of course Richard (Hughes, sporting director) and me – and other people, as well – are trying to improve the squad where possible, but that’s not always that easy.”
He is new to the Premier League, but Slot told TSN he has spent the majority of time since starting the new job working on assessing and improving Liverpool rather than scouting the opposition. There’ll be plenty of time to work on that once weekly games in August.
Liverpool fans are going to want Slot to make this team better, because the Reds have not won the league in four years. But first, he can’t afford to mess it up. And it’s a challenge to get it just right, because what Fox Sports called the “Summer of Soccer” – major continental tournaments Copa America and Euro 2024 – engaged a number of LFC’s players as late as July 14. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Mac Allister, Nunez, and Diaz were all in the U.S. playing Copa America. Jota and Alexander were among those involved at the Euros. So none was in Pittsburgh and they are not expected to be involved in the friendly Wednesday against Arsenal in Philadelphia, or Saturday’s game against Manchester United in Columbia, S.C.
The first Premier League game is Aug. 17 at Ipswich Town, which leaves about two weeks for Slot to get those important players comfortable in his system. He explained that he sees no great need for massive change given the comfort level of the remaining players and the results they achieved under Klopp.
Is Curtis Jones secretly happy about the change?
At least one of the players seemed not so dissatisfied to see Slot take over.
“I’m excited, and the lads are, as well,” Jones told reporters. “He’s amazing, actually. It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in terms of a style of play that suits me and the lads we have in our team. It’s a clear plan. He’s fully involved. He coaches us a lot. He’s big on the finest details in things.
“He knows it’s going to take a little bit of time. It’s obviously a big change.”
Although Slot does not promise major changes, Jones suggested there might be some that are noticeable. Under Klopp, Liverpool’s trademark was the marauding runs of Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, whose skill at penetrating defenses and firing in crosses undid many Premier League opponents.
“I feel like my way of playing has always been a kid who wants to get on the ball and play and help the team, be comfortable on the ball," Jones said. "And then came around a team who’ve always had world-class lads on the wing and up front and stuff, so I feel like the center mids were always like runners, more disciplined.
“The principles are, of course, the same. But I feel like now the center mid is going to kind of be more like the heart of the team. And I say that in a way, of course – Mo is always still going to get his goals and things like that. But in terms of buildup and our comfort on the ball, and how calm we have to be and play more as a team. We’re not in a rush to attack. We kind of just want to have the ball and break teams down.
“I feel more in the past, a bit, it was kind of a like a rush if we get the ball back – it was a little bit too direct, I’d say. And it was up-and-down, up-and-down. And to where now it’s going to be at the point to where he wants us to have all the ball and just completely kill teams.”
MORE: Harvey Elliott reveals key difference between Arne Slot and Jurgen Klopp
It makes sense Jones would be at a place in his career when a change would do him good. A Liverpool native who is a product of the team’s academy, he began playing consistently for Klopp in 2021, at age 19. But four seasons later, he still has made only 28 Premier League starts and eight more in Champions League.
When many of the team’s fans were clamoring for a midfield overhaul through last summer’s transfer window, LFC wound up purchasing three midfielders (Szoboszlai, Mac Allister and Wataru Endo) who made more league starts. There was a danger he’d always be viewed by those in charge as a reliable reserve.
“When Klopp was going, I thought I was at a point where I was playing a lot more, and our bond had become closer, as well. But it’s one of them things to where it’s part of the game. It changes all the time,” Jones told The Sporting News. "He can walk away as a legend at the club. He can go and experience life now with his family and stuff.
“And then of course the excitement was a guy is going to come in, and I don’t think anybody has the edge over anybody. Everybody just has a clean slate. And that’s what I fought for, that I needed. Because I’d come around the team as a young kid, and lads had already been established. And so I was coming in as a kid who had a job on my hands, and of course I still do. I just feel now we’re at the point to where everybody is equal, and so I think the ones who show it more now are the ones who will play.”
What standard must Arne Slot meet?
In his nine seasons at Liverpool, Klopp won the club’s first Premier League title in 2020, won their sixth UEFA Champions League crown in 2019, reached the UCL final on two other occasions, won the FA Cup in 2022 and the League Cup in both 2022 and 2024. Liverpool also won its first-ever Club World Cup in 2019.
And it somehow was about more than the results. In the decade after the Reds won the 2005 Champions League title with one of the most improbable comebacks in world sport history, they had some quality squads that managed some respectable accomplishments. There was the FA Cup victory in 2006, the trip to the Champions League final, the Premier League runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2014, and the League Cup win in 2012.
There was so much missing, though. Entry to the Champions League that once seemed a given all but disappeared, with one involvement in a seven-year stretch. Klopp’s arrival in October 2015, and his reconstruction of the team over the next three years, transformed everything. They became a club to be feared.
Slot’s task will be to continue that – they’ll enter the Champions League for the seventh time in eight years this autumn – and perhaps to find a way to close the gap with Manchester City, which last year wound up at nine points.
“I think the answer lies in last season, where 5-6-7 games before the end, they were still competing with Arsenal and City,” Slot said. “So there you have your answer. They are good enough to compete.”