Arne Slot Hits the Ground Running at Liverpool

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Arne Slot interview
Carlo Bruil / Flickr.com

The spotlight was firmly on Arne Slot as his Liverpool side took on Ipswich for the second match of the 2024/25 Premier League season. For those who have been following the Dutchman closely since pre-season, the Liverpool display witnessed at Portman Road came as little surprise. The Dutchman had been implementing some changes during the summer and they paid dividends during Liverpool’s opening game.

While Slot is keen to cut his own path, not strictly follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Jürgen Klopp, this is more a case of evolution than revolution. Slot has avoided making any drastic changes that make this Liverpool team unrecognisable from the one before. Instead, he had made some tweaks in an effort to get Liverpool playing the way he wants his team to play.

It is very early days but Slot’s approach appears to be working as Liverpool largely impressed during pre-season and have made a bright start to competitive action too. Here we will look at why things have begun brightly for the former Feyenoord manager and if his good start is likely to last.

Keeping the Foundations

Jürgen Klopp may not have left Liverpool with the club at the peak of their powers but Arne Slot still inherited a talented squad. It would seem he agrees with this assessment too as the Merseyside club have been very quiet in the transfer window. They did make a failed effort to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, but otherwise, the club have had very few serious targets.

In addition to no major signings (or very few, depending on how the rest of the transfer window pans out), Liverpool have also not made any major sales. Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg have been shipped off to Brentford but both would only have been backup options for Slot. For players that could regularly expect to start, Slot has lost none of them, meaning he is pretty much working with the same squad that finished third place in the Premier League last season.

As well as the same personnel, Slot has avoided anything changing anything too dramatic in terms of formations and individual roles. On paper, Slot is employing a 4-2-3-1 rather than a flatter 4-3-3 as Klopp preferred but there is not a great deal of difference between the two. In theory, it does allow more licence for Dominic Szoboszlai to get forward but the underlying stats show that he is enjoying a similar amount of activity in the attacking third as normal.

We have, however, seen Slot put Trent Alexander-Arnold back into his more traditional, attacking right-back slot, rather than the midfield hybrid role he was becoming increasingly familiar with. Only nine months ago, The Athletic published an article saying the full transition to midfield is “inevitable” yet Slot said, “I think Trent has many qualities, and one of them is the crosses from the side,” adding that, “I want him in dangerous crossing positions.” Reverting to a traditional position for the Englishman is hardly drastic as far as changes go though.

Tactical Tweaks


There might have been a temptation for Liverpool’s manager just to copy the Klopp playbook, given it has worked so well, but Slot has his own thoughts and preferences. Although he admitted there are only small differences between himself and Klopp, and that their general footballing approach is “quite similar” the Dutchman is adapting the team to play his way. One of the most notable changes we have seen so far is a slightly more patient approach in possession. Whereas Klopp would be very direct, wanting to bombard opponents with waves of attack, for Slot this approach is a bit too open.

What the new Liverpool manager wants from his team is a little more control and possession. He wants players to better weigh up the risk and reward of launching an attack, as he explained in an interview with Sky Sports. Not that Liverpool were defensively sloppy last season but Slot wants things even tighter at the back by controlling possession more, even if it as the expense of a few extra opportunities.

Results So Far

Sometimes pre-season results can be misleading but in the case of Liverpool, they have simply maintained their good form across to the start of the real campaign. Ignoring the first friendly, versus Preston North End, in which 25 Liverpool players featured, the Reds were unbeaten across their more serious friendlies. They seemed to get better as time went on too, with impressive three-goal wins over Manchester United and Sevilla registered in August.

Facing newly promoted Ipswich Town for their Premier League opener did not pose the toughest test but it was a potential banana skin fixture. The Tractor Boys only lost once at home when finishing second in the Championship and the atmosphere was bouncing as you would expect given the circumstances. An upset looked possible following an unconvincing first-half display in which Ipswich had the better opportunities, but Liverpool bossed the contest after the restart. Had they not been so wasteful in front of goal, it was the sort of match the visitors could have easily won 4-0 rather than 2-0.

Moving on to Slot’s first home game, the Reds took on the challenge of Brentford. It was a match the hosts were expected to win and in truth, the contest rarely looked like going any other way. Although it was less emphatic than the 3-0 win secured last season, Slot will take confidence in the superior underlying stats. When beating the Bees at Anfield last season, Klopp’s men conceded 16 shots totalling 1.45xG. This time, however, as well as producing more xG themselves, Liverpool limited the Londoners to just eight shots, totalling 0.46xG.

Whether Liverpool continue to show such levels of controlled dominance remains to be seen, but this game, plus the second-half showing against Ipswich, is exactly what Slot wants.

What Lies Ahead


Liverpool began last season very brightly but ended up running out of steam in the final two months as fatigue and injuries kicked in. There is an expectation though that Slot’s less ‘chaotic’ football might see players in better shape come the end of the campaign. He has also been mindful of managing minutes, even at this early stage. He hooked Alexander-Arnold off during the first two Premier League matches and even gave Mohamed Salah a short rest against Brentford even though the points were not quite secure. Injury prevention is very important to Slot and this saw him have at least 90% of the squad available across three full seasons at Feyenoord.

The only possible concern is that Slot’s approach could potentially rustle a few feathers. He was publicly quite critical about defender, Jarell Quansah, hauled off at half-time following a slightly shaky display against Ipswich. Although he did not claim Quansah was the only player underperforming, he admitted he took him off for losing too many duels. Then there is Alexander-Arnold who cut a deeply frustrated figure after being subbed off for a second consecutive match against Brentford. Although these are relatively minor issues, disgruntled players can negatively impact a team.