Interesting article in the Telegraph. Behind a paywall.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/05/20/arne-slot-liverpool-manager-contract-signed-key-players/


Arne Slot’s life in football in nine quotes
 
Relatively little is known about Feyenoord manager Arne Slot, the man who has succeeded Jürgen Klopp as manager of Liverpool.

Here are nine of the Dutchman’s best quotes that provide an insight into what makes him tick.

1. On the expectations of his players
“I want as many good football players as possible in the team and I want to make them work as hard as possible. I believe that when we work to perfect our habits every day, we have more chance to cut out luck.”

2. On Messi, Guardiola and Klopp
“There are two people who have really enriched football in recent decades, who have never disappointed me. Those are Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola.

“Messi has everything. Guardiola’s teams always play good, dominant, well-thought-out football. Then of course you have Jürgen Klopp. Manchester City-Liverpool for me is the ultimate game.”

3. On his pressing philosophy
“We always want to create a surplus around the ball, both offensively and defensively so that we can lock down the opponent and immediately move forward. We always have to press the ball aggressively when we are outnumbered. That is why our defenders must be as high as possible on the field, so that we can win the ball in the opponent’s half and immediately launch a counter-attack.”

 Feyenoord press
The aggressive press was the cornerstone of Feyenoord's succes under Slot CREDIT: MAURICE VAN STEEN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
4. On his formation, system and flexibility
“There are several teams playing with many systems. We have a team where you can see the changing system in the game. We play 4-3-3 and if the opponent is trying to pressure us in a certain way then we need to have an answer to that. These differences can be quite small to see.”

5. On losing to Manchester United (as AZ manager)
“The first 50 minutes I think we played quite well. I had the feeling it was quite a close match and that both teams could score. When you’re 1-0 down and you have to win over here it’s going to be very difficult and then the situation of the second goal comes and afterwards it was over for us. United showed how good they were in that period.

“When you want to have a result at Old Trafford you cannot have a situation like this [for the second goal]. Everyone saw it was a foul, we watched it back and it was a clear foul. When you concede a goal after a foul like this it’s almost impossible for us to win then over here.”

6. On his relationship with fans
“Our fans are so important, of course the players are important, but the fans can create this atmosphere between the players and the fans so we can score. We need them.”

 Arne Slot
Slot brought the Eredivisie title back to Rotterdam for only the second time this century CREDIT: OLAF KRAAK/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
7. On Feyenoord’s rivalry with Roma:
“The Dutch media asked me a lot of questions, ‘Do you think about revenge [for the Europa Conference League final defeat in 2021/22]’… and then the headline is: ‘He wants revenge.’ But of course if you’ve lost a game, if it’s a final or another game, it’s quite normal for a professional sportsman that you want to win the next time.

“I do not think that it’s an emotional overload that makes it difficult or these kinds of things to play against AS Roma. What makes it difficult is that they have a very good organisation and very, very good individual players.”

8. On Jose Mourinho criticising his side’s progress
“If he said this a few months ago then I completely agree with him. I watched the game back this morning from the Conference League final and that team played very good football always the way to the final and also during the final. And at the beginning of this season the team that is here now didn’t play that well.

“But I’m hoping that maybe when he [Mourinho] sits here in a few hours he will change his opinion, because that is what I do. I think we’ve improved a lot through the season.”

9. On why Celtic are better than Rangers
“I think they [Celtic] are a great team who play good football.

“You should have and pay respect to teams that have been champions. Because I know how difficult it is to become a champion.

“Celtic, the last 10 years, they were nine times champions [in Scotland], I think I’ll offend Rangers fans, but Celtic are a much better team than Rangers if you look at the results.

“I’m a Dutchman so of course I like to watch Rangers. They had Giovanni van Bronckhorst, I think at that time they were really good but in the last 10 years Celtic have performed much better.”

Name me another club where while one of your greatest ever players gets up to rap at a party that one of your greatest ever managers gets up with him to bust some moves

Absolute class, love the bones of this club

Well it's easy to see why the yanks went for him, his name is an anagram of the nickname for Texas.

Arne Slot becomes Lone Star.

Excited to see what he can do!

I really want to have Jesus back Jokes aside, he will gain more power if he's successful.

Yesterday, even Klopp confused the title towards Slot.

If he brings success, he can take the title that he likes.