A workaholic with a trick to stop injuries, inspired by Pep Guardiola... but colleagues used to call him 'slow'! What Liverpool's new boss Arne Slot is REALLY like: LEWIS STEELE reports from RotterdamBy
LEWIS STEELEPUBLISHED: 12:00 EDT, 6 May 2024 |
UPDATED: 12:00 EDT, 6 May 2024
This could be Rotterdam or anywhere. After a weekend immersed with seasoned Feyenoord observers in this sun-kissed port city observing Arne Slot up close at De Kuip, it is clear his methods can be adaptable for the seismic step-up he faces in Liverpool. Or Rome.
It is a view shared by Dutch football legend Marco van Basten, who said on Slot: 'If you get AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord to play (good) football, you will also get big clubs to play (good) football. I think it will only be easier for him (at Liverpool) because you have better players.'
As far as references go, Van Basten is a strong start. The man he is poised to replace in the Anfield hotseat, Jurgen Klopp, is not bad either. The German has publicly endorsed Slot, labelling him a 'good coach and good guy'.
Glowing reviews continue from all corners of the footballing world but perhaps better placed is star man Santi Gimenez, the 26-goal striker who is one of many success stories of Slot's time here after being plucked from the Mexican league. Big clubs in Europe are keeping tabs.
Mail Sport asked what makes his manager so special and Gimenez replied: 'It was a big step (for me) to come from Mexico to the Netherlands and he gave me confidence. He always pushed me to be better. I am really grateful to Arne, I hope he can do well everywhere.
'As a person and as a coach, he is complete. He understands when to tell you that you did well, and also when to tell you if you did bad. That is a big advantage of Arne, he can talk really well with the players. Arne's style is attack, attack, attack.'
The Argentine speaks good English but could not help himself accidentally slipping into the past tense when talking about Slot's tenure. 'He deserves the world, he made wonderful memories,' he added. 'We are happy he was - well, is - our coach.'
Judging by the full-time scenes at De Kuip after Sunday's 5-0 thrashing of PEC Zwolle, he will not be their coach for much longer. He greeted ultras in the Gerard Meijer Tribune in a style that was reminiscent of Klopp's customary fist bumps to the Kop.
Slot was pushed towards the stand, which is named after a former club masseur voted as the 'greatest Feyenoorder' following 45 years of service, and then conducted them into chants as fans fell silent and invited their beloved coach to lead the songs.
Before that, the soundtrack to the night was supporters chanting 'stand up for Arne Slot' - in which the whole stadium took a temporary seat then sprang to their feet to dance - and a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone, plus tunes about the backroom staff also departing.
It felt like a goodbye - and it was. Parts of De Kuip will be closed for Slot's final home game as punishment for fans' use of fireworks in a game in March. The end game comes against Excelsior, apt noting the team name is latin translation for 'higher', where Slot is heading.
'I agree it looked like a goodbye,' he said. 'They are expecting me to leave. That is something we could say…' He added: 'Sometimes in life opportunities come along. Last year I made the choice to stay, this time probably different.'
Signing on the dotted line and an official announcement is all that is missing now - and that could happen in the coming days but might be saved for after the season has finished. Slot emerged as Liverpool's No 1 candidate - but what makes him so special?
Like nearly every manager in Europe, the 45-year-old coach does not hide that his inspiration is Pep Guardiola which, in turn, means he is influenced by the famed Dutch school of football popularised by Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and Louis van Gaal.
One former colleague of Slot who has known him since his playing days at Sparta Rotterdam, says: 'Everyone knew he would become a trainer, it did not surprise anyone. Not completely the same but Van Gaal also played for Sparta Rotterdam.
'They were both far above the group technically and tactically. Both very slow! With a bit of fantasy you can see comparisons between the two in their journeys. He sees Guardiola as his idol.
'He is very like Guardiola, they play the same high-intensity, attractive, attacking football. You can compare the two - not in level because Pep already proved everything worldwide and Slot is at the beginning.
'But he loves the way Guardiola works, even in his press conferences - he will never, ever pick out a player individually. He always finds the positive. He's really into analysing opponents for hours and hours.
'The Feyenoord players always say, 'Everything the trainer predicted, we saw in the game'. Players are never surprised. Arne is a workaholic. He's also happy to delegate. He has a coach for this, a coach for that, and for that and that and that!'
Some staff will follow him to Merseyside, including right-hand man Sipke Hulshoff - described as 'an extension of Arne' - plus co-head of performance Ruben Peeters and analyst Etienne Reijnen.
If Slot had his way, others - like goalkeeper guru Jyri Nieminen, strategy manager and former Greater Manchester Police officer Matt Wade and trainer Leigh Egger - might have also formed the band, but Feyenoord do not fancy too many employees leaving.
Peeters, the Belgian who spent six years at Genk, has worked with Slot on 'microbiome manipulation' - essentially how gut health can improve sporting performance - and DNA epigenetics, which is trying to impact genes by changing behaviours.
Slot's backroom team are also said to closely monitor players' sleeping patterns to optimise performance on matchday. To conclude the biology lesson, the manager credits his performance and medical teams with an abnormally low injury rate.
The 45-year-old is also huge on making stars feel at home. Player care manager Frank Boer looks after everything from helping new signings buy houses to getting a tilde printed on the name of forward Igor Paixao's shirt to make his Brazilian roots feel honoured.
Slot is credited with sending defender Marcus Pedersen - now out on loan - to kick-boxing classes to develop aggression and confidence. Boer also put Pedersen in touch with a now ex-girlfriend, Noor Omrani, though that might not be in his official job remit.
'It's not fair to all of the others (if I get credit),' Slot said. 'They are all very important. You know how it is in football, it is all about the head coach. But my complete staff deserve lots of credit for how we have performed.'
Born in the tiny village of Bergentheim, a small drive from the German border, young Slot became obsessed with football after watching his father Arend - a head-master - teach the sport to kids at an amateur level. He watches basketball, is a keen golfer and plays padel.
He had a relatively low-key playing career compared to his idol Guardiola but was still dubbed the 'Bergentheimer Xavi' by the Dutch media. Slot was a slow midfielder but made up for it with an astute technical approach.
'I first met Arne when I was 18 or 19 playing together at NAC Breda, he took me under his wing,' says former team-mate Julian Jenner. 'I would compare him to Sergio Busquets, the same mobility and technique. Whatever came into his mind, he could do.
'When he was in the line-up, he would speak up, when he was not playing, he would try to help the young boys. He would say to the coach, 'Yeah but what if this happens?' The coach would say, 'Arne, you're the creative one, you have to fix it!'. He wrote everything down.
'He spoke a lot with Marijn Beuker, now at Ajax, about personal development, trying to expose his shortcomings to work out what he needed to improve. His ambitions sky-rocketed. He is more like Guardiola than Klopp, total dominance but more direct.
'I come from the opposite side of the country, The Hague, we are chest out and say we are the best. He is more from the realistic side, don't go too fast. As a person, he is easy-going, polite, if you don't feel good then he is there for you and shows his father side.
'Arne has to convince big players to believe in his philosophy - like Mohamed Salah who is from a different level - but I have no doubt he will prove himself. The fans will love him, his dominant playing style and pressing can get them behind him. With that Liverpool can be unstoppable.'
Slot's first venture after hanging up his boots was to co-found a company called Slotwear with his brother Jakko - who now works in athletics - which made bespoke and customisable captain's armbands.
There are pictures of the brothers but it is tough to tell them apart - Jakko, also bald, gets mistaken for his brother and stopped for selfies, to which he plays along. The pair used to be managerial partners when both coaching FC Bergentheim's youth team from the age of just 14.
But it was Arne whose vocation was in coaching and one of the first men to give him a break, Henk de Jong, took a trip to Liverpool last week by a quirk of coincidence. De Jong hired Slot as an assistant at Cambuur.
The 59-year-old is still in post at the second-tier club but going through an illness - a cyst in the head - and was invited to Liverpool by Klopp. 'I heard that you are the only coach in the world who is funnier than me,' joked the German in a video message. 'How come we've never met?'
De Jong, who also visited Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, returned the humour by telling Liverpool staffers that Slot is his apprentice. Pep Lijnders, a friend of Slot's, showed him around. De Jong texted Slot a picture of him in the press conference room, saying: 'I'm in your seat.'
When the curtain closes on his time at Feyenoord, Slot will take a brief break - he enjoyed a holiday to Italy last week - and then analyse all of Liverpool's games. He caught the first few minutes of Sunday's win but had to refocus.
Rotterdam-based sources tell how Slot has been known to stay 'up all night' studying opponents to find weaknesses. He will cut footage of his own team in bad moments - such as poor misses or a defender falling over - to not dampen confidence.
Slot is far from perfect and there have been bumps in the road, not least a fallout with former club AZ Alkmaar which saw him fired for flirting with Feyenoord. 'Your departure was very painful in Alkmaar,' said Brian Wijker, an AZ-facing columnist.
'Especially the way. As if your girlfriend leaves you after she has been sharing a bed with someone else for a number of weeks.' Before he departed, Alkmaar were level on points with Ajax atop the Eredivisie before the season was curtailed due to the Covid pandemic.
But akin to Klopp taking Liverpool from mid-table mediocrity back to glory again, Slot has returned cash-strapped Feyenoord to their rightful home of a Dutch superpower after a decade of turmoil. Fans outside Cafe Hollywood, a vibrant bar in the shadows of De Kuip, idolise him.
'You're here to take Slot!' accuses the first fan, upon detecting an English accent. Another, aptly named Paul van Dijk, says: 'In the last years he has worked wonders with Feyenoord. He has taken a dead team, nothing special, to the Conference League final, the League and Cup.'
The sentiment is shared and more fans add: 'He teaches players how to become a lot better, I don't know any other who can do that. He is a trainer who is human. We are sad to see him leave but also proud and happy for him. He's the manager who gave us everything we wanted.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13387249/A-workaholic-trick-stop-injuries-inspired-Pep-Guardiola-colleagues-used-call-slow-Liverpools-new-boss-Arne-Slot-REALLY-like-LEWIS-STEELE-reports-Rotterdam.html
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