By Our Reporter
Arne Slot has guided Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th top-flight title in his debut campaign in charge at Anfield but what exactly did the Dutchman change to make them league champions?
When Jurgen Klopp shocked the football world by unexpectedly calling time on his trophy-laden tenure at Liverpool last January, the Reds boss insisted to Sky Sports: “Liverpool 2.0 doesn’t stop after I leave. It’s just the start of another project with a really good squad.”
However, they limped home third in the Premier League, with just the Carabao Cup to mark the German’s final season at the helm.
Slot, who was confirmed as Klopp’s successor in May, and another new face at the club last summer, sporting director Richard Hughes, decided to stick with the squad Klopp had built after seeing Martin Zubimendi turn down a move to Anfield.
The duo only brought in forward Federico Chiesa and goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, with the latter staying at Valencia until next season.
Heading into this campaign, no one was predicting Slot was going to make the so-called impossible job of succeeding Klopp look possible by leading Liverpool to just a second Premier League title.
What did the 46-year-old tweak, both on and off the pitch, to produce one of the most unforeseen championship wins in recent years?
Liverpool had two dominant paths to consider – revolution or steady evolution – when seeking Klopp’s successor. Through a refined data lens that prioritised factors like overperformance, individual coaching improvements, player fitness rates, effective communication and dealing with high-pressure atmospheres, the club explored both options.
Sporting’s Ruben Amorim – the popular choice after Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso removed himself from the equation – and Slot were the standout candidates in the contrasting approaches, but the former’s 3-4-3 would require plenty of time, adjustment and a hefty squad rebuild before Liverpool would fully see the benefits.
Meanwhile, there have been no pulled hamstrings while chasing officials down the touchline, exuberant celebrations with the fans or post-match fist pumps to the Kop – and how the team have responded to that calmer presence in the dugout.
However, do not mistake that for an unwillingness to make unpopular decisions, which the new man displayed in his very first game in charge when hooking Jarell Quansah at half-time at Ipswich for not winning enough of his aerial duels, while both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Darwin Nunez can also attest to his more ruthless side.
Klopp’s methods had, of course, resulted in one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, but Slot was still not afraid to bring in key off-field tweaks as he bedded in his beliefs in pre-season.
Less Running Means Fewer Injuries
Meanwhile, training was now longer but less intense, with Ruben Peters, who also came with Slot from Rotterdam as the club’s new physical performance coach, determined to listen to the players in pre-season as to the possible reasons for the Reds’ chronic injury crisis that scuppered Klopp’s final campaign at Anfield.
With Slot also tweaking the team’s playing style from Klopp’s heavy metal, organised chaos to a more possession-based, slower percussion, meaning in effect less high-octane running, Liverpool have suffered just 37 injuries, with only 816 days lost to injuries this season, in stark contrast to rivals Arsenal – undoubtedly a key factor in their title win.
Another change from Klopp’s time in charge has been the introduction of daily meetings, with prompt feedback for every player on how their training session or match day went from a man who is obsessive about improvement.
As such, Slot has placed a huge focus on better positioning for his players, even in drills like rondos which, rather than a warm-up mechanism, have become an integral part of his training sessions.
In fact, when Slot leaves the AXA training ground to head to his apartment, he would still be reviewing the day’s session or going over match-specific details, with the club’s post-match and elite player development analyst Daniel Spearritt tasked with clipping moments from games as they happen to be shown later to players as the Dutchman shouts “clip”.
“We have meetings mostly every day,” said Conor Bradley back in August. “Some are short and sharp, some are longer. We didn’t really have meetings last year, only the day before the game.
“There’s differences from what Jurgen did and what the gaffer does now.”
This one-on-one coaching from Slot has definitely brought about noticeable improvements in some Liverpool players this season, such as Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konate.
Alexander-Arnold also credited this with improving his game.
“If any time an attacker gets by me and gets past me, he will call it out in meetings and individual meetings, and say this cannot happen,” he said in September. “We go through every game together and he highlights where he wants me to improve.
“It is really refreshing to have a manager who will help and guide and teach me how to be better as a player. I am someone who wants to learn, someone who wants to be the best and someone who strives to be the best ever.”
Subtle on-field tweaks integral to Reds’ success
The club needed a hire where the emphasis would be on coaching outcomes, with Hughes and CEO of football at Liverpool, Michael Edwards, not wanting a Klopp-lite, nor someone who felt like they had to out-do the German in the personality stakes, which would’ve been a losing battle.
Slot’s confidence was not loud or brash. He had faith in his methodology, which had worked at both Feyenoord and AZ Alkmaar and focused on individual coaching to maximise a player’s positioning and potential.
His use of Gravenberch at the base of Liverpool’s midfield – a position Klopp preferred to use Wataru Endo in last season – has been a masterstroke [only West Ham’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka has made more interceptions this season], as has stationing Salah wider on the right, with the full-back and No 8 on that flank further away from him to create more space.
Salah has responded with his best top-flight goal involvements per minute since joining the club in 2017 while being on course for a record-breaking number of Premier League assists, and looks happier than ever, unlike this time last season when he was seen bickering with Klopp on the London Stadium touchline.
Some have even credited Slot with Salah finally putting pen to paper on a new two-year deal at Anfield.
Elsewhere in the team, Gakpo being returned to his comfort zone on the left and Diaz operating through the middle were other small but integral changes.
Meanwhile, Slot moved away from Klopp’s 4-3-3 ‘Gegenpressing’ to a more structured 4-2-3-1, to zone in on build-up and possession, with Liverpool’s more controlled style requiring less running and affording more in-game rest.
Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson have vastly different roles to those required of them under Klopp, when as overlapping full-backs they were constant attacking outlets for the team, as their goals and assists totals showed.
This season, however, the duo have spent less time bombing over the halfway line, with Alexander-Arnold mostly looking to hit Salah early with long balls over the top, as seen on numerous occasions – starting on the opening day when they combined for Liverpool’s second goal at Ipswich, or for the opener against Man City at Anfield in December.
Finally, while Slot has generally shown a reluctance to deviate from his trusted starting XI – Van Dijk, Salah and Gravenberch have started every league game so far this season – his actual in-game changes have often proved decisive, as 13 league goals from substitues this season demonstrates.
“The reason Liverpool got a point in this game is down to the manager,” Jamie Carragher said on MNF following 10-player Liverpool’s come-from-behind 2-2 draw with Fulham at Anfield in November.
“He’s as good as any manager in the Premier League at spotting things on the pitch and making a tactical change or changing things quickly.”
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