Arne Slot Highlights Liverpool Blueprint Moment After Joking About Jurgen Klopp’s Dislike for 12.30pm Kick-offs
Liverpool’s new head coach, Arne Slot, shared his thoughts after his team’s 2-0 victory against Ipswich Town in their Premier League opener.
Arne Slot jokingly mentioned that his Liverpool players might have inherited former coach Jurgen Klopp’s dislike for 12:30pm kick-offs. He also pointed out a particular moment that he believes exemplifies what he aims to accomplish with the club.
In the second half, goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah secured a 2-0 win for the Reds against newly-promoted Ipswich Town in their first Premier League match on Saturday.
Klopp, who was Liverpool’s previous manager, had frequently expressed his disapproval of lunchtime kick-offs. Many observers noted the irony that Slot’s first competitive game as head coach was scheduled for that time.
After witnessing his team struggle during the first half but significantly improve after the break, Slot acknowledged that he has already learned a lot from the experience.
“When I started here, there were many things that have been told to me but one of them was that Jurgen hated the 12.30pm kick-off!” he said.
“And today the team showed that we hated the 12.30pm kick-off because we were not in the game in the first half.
“The second thing people told me is that there are no easy games in the Premier League. We showed that today. If you play against a newly-promoted team, they can make such a fight out of it – as they did in the first half – and make it so difficult for us.
“That is why it is important to have weeks like the upcoming ones (with no midweek games) where we can work with the team to prepare them even better than we did today. Because the first half was not good enough, the second half was a really good performance.”
Liverpool could have widened their lead during a strong performance in the second half.
Slot highlighted a particular sequence where Luis Diaz missed an opportunity, sending the ball over the bar from close range, as an example of the attacking strategy he aimed to implement.
“For the Liverpool supporters, I don’t think this is the first time in nine years they have seen the team playing very well,” he added.
“I inherited a very, very good team with a lot of great individuals. But these players have to understand it is not enough what they brought in the first half.
“If they bring the maximum capacity, then they can play really good. That’s what they showed in the second half today.
“It was good to see the goals we scored. But I think the attack, that will probably be on Match of the Day tonight, that did not end in a goal was the nicest one.
“That was the one Lucho just hit over the bar. That is what I want to see the team do more and more and more if they can.”
In other Liverpool news, Mohamed Salah Makes “Very Different” Arne Slot Admission After Liverpool Beat Ipswich
