Arne Slot revealed that he kept no stone unturned to familiarise himself with the Liverpool culture and his players before taking charge.
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Slot brought in as Klopp's successorDutch coach ready to give his best shotHas studied Klopp's training sessions in detailWHAT HAPPENED?
The Dutch manager is well aware of the Herculean task that awaits him next season as he has to step into the vacant shoes of Jurgen Klopp – a manager who has won several trophies with the Reds, including the Premier League and the Champions League, during his nine-year stint. Fans are bound to make comparisons with his predecessor and Slot knows that only results will help him win over the Kop.
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In a league that has been dominated by Manchester City and Arsenal over the last couple of seasons, Slot is aware that mere tactics will not help him dethrone the two clubs from the top spots. He needs to engineer a total revolution at Merseyside and to do that he has gone to extraordinary lengths to understand the ways of his new workplace.
WHAT SLOT SAID
Speaking to the official club media Slot admitted that he has gone through video footage of Klopp's training sessions to understand what it looked like behind the scenes as well.
"There are two things [why] to do this," he began.
"Of course to get to know more about the players because mostly you see them during the games. And you want to know also what the culture is, how they train and what they are used to. I think it's always interesting if you are the successor of Jürgen Klopp and also Pepijn Lijnders, who does quite a bit of work on the training pitch, to see what their ideas were on the training pitch.
"I said this, we all try to steal a bit from each other – mostly this is done by looking at the games but if you can see the way they train, that can only help you. Let one thing be clear: the players are not going to get all the same exercises again – we will implement our own things. But it's interesting to see what they did also during the week."
(C)Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR SLOT?
Slot is already in the process of masterminding a blueprint that would help him get the best out of the squad – which he hopes should be enough to conquer England once again. The players are going to report back to him in early July and he would have three friendlies to get his combinations right before the campaign opener against Ipswich Town on August 17.
