Everything we’ve heard from Liverpool players on Arne Slot – “He’s fully involved”

Arne Slot has been working with Liverpool’s players for over a month and there has been plenty of positive noise coming out of the dressing room.

If you were not well versed in Dutch football you could be forgiven for having little previous knowledge of Slot, who before taking the Anfield job had only worked in his native Netherlands.

Now more than a month into his Liverpool tenure, we have not been short on players speaking positively about the changes he has implemented.

• READ: 7 things we’ve learned from Liverpool’s pre-season so far

We have already had a taste of what is in store throughout the pre-season fixtures so far and we will continue to see his style develop as more first-team players are introduced.

But we can take plenty of confidence from the squad, who are evidently enjoying working with the 45-year-old if their words are anything to go by.

 

Curtis Jones: ‘Centre-mids the heart of the team’

“He’s amazing, actually,” Jones told reporters in July. “It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in terms of a style of play that suits me and the lads that we have in our team.

“It’s a clear plan. The training, he’s fully involved, he coaches us a lot and he is big on the finest of details.

“The centre-mids were always lads who were runners and more disciplined. The principles are the same, but I feel that now the centre-mids are going to be more the heart of the team.

“Mo is still going to get his goals, but in terms of our build-up, it’s how comfortable and calm we have to be and play more as a team.

“We’re not in a rush to attack, we want to have the ball and break teams down and that gives us a chance, if we give the ball way, we can go and press.

“I feel in the past it was a rush to get the ball back and it was a little bit too direct, up and down, up and down.

“Now it’s going to be where he wants us to have all the ball and just completely kill teams.”

 

Tyler Morton: “Total Football”

“He loves Total Football,” Morton explained. “He’s come in and it’s a style a lot of players love.

“If you don’t love the style he plays, you shouldn’t be a Footballer really!

“It’s Total Football and it’s every midfielder’s dream. You could see it [vs. Arsenal] in the triangles that were played; he’s big on triangles and they were [working].”

 

Fabio Carvalho – “Play through the thirds”

“I’d probably say playing more through the midfield,” Carvalho said of Slot’s style. “Players like Curtis, Harvey and Szobo as well – we’ve got the players to do so.

“Playing through them and getting me, Mo and the players higher up like Jots on the ball as well.

“Being able to play through the thirds is what we want to do and what the manager wants to be our identity.”

 

Ryan Gravenberch: “He really wants to play football”

“Really good impressions,” Gravenberch said after his arrival during the US tour. “He really wants to play football and me personally as well.

“So, happy that he’s here and happy that we can train and play.”

 

Alexis Mac Allister – “A lot of optimism”

“I had talks with the new coach during the Copa America, we talked a little about the club and about what I saw and so on,” Mac Allister said prior to joining back up with the squad.

“You can tell he’s a very trained technician. He spoke to me very well.

“And I talked with Marcos Senesi who played for him at Feyenoord, and he spoke very well of him.

“So I think there is a lot of optimism about what this season is going to be like for Liverpool, beyond the fact a great manager like Jurgen has left us.

“We have a great group and we believe the new coach can help us achieve a lot of things.”

 

Jarell Quansah – “A lot more structure”

“There’s a lot of the same messages, but at the same time, I think there’s so much that’s different,” Quansah started.

“A lot more structure when we’re in possession, a few nice passages of play, you can see a lot of patterns we’re trying to get used to really.

“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.”