Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has detailed what won’t happen with the Reds as backing expressed for Southampton boss Russell Martin
From the moment Arne Slot held court for his first media conference after being confirmed as new Liverpool head coach during the summer, the conclusion was obvious. This is a man with a plan.
Given the Reds have subsequently won 15 of their first 17 games under Slot – the best-ever start of any Anfield boss – underlines the approach of being more controlled and possession-based than preferred by his predecessor Jurgen Klopp suggests the method is working, Liverpool clear at the top of the Premier League and Champions League tables and into the last eight of the League Cup.
The team to which they travel next month in the quarter-finals, Southampton, are the top-flight opposition this afternoon as the Reds aim to strengthen their grip on first place.
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But while Slot is lauded for sticking to his principles, Saints boss Russell Martin is being criticised for a similar approach, steadfastly refusing to budge from the expansive style which, while earning promotion, his rock-bottom team are struggling to perfect in the Premier League.
And as the pair prepare to do battle on the St Mary’s touchline, Slot has given backing to his beleaguered counterpart while reinforcing the value in sticking to managerial beliefs. Not for the Dutchman hastily ripping up a gameplan, regardless of whether or not results have been immediately forthcoming.
“if you’re a manager you have to believe in something and, in my opinion, stick to that plan,” says the Liverpool boss.
“If your plan is you want to defend the whole game or all season, then stick to that plan, because you believe in it, you’re trying to convince your players that that is the way to go. If after four, five, six weeks, you completely change your idea about football, that normally doesn’t send the right signal to your players, at least that’s what I think.
“Russell has his own style and he believes in it, and there is no-one that knows for sure that if he or the club wants to change the playing style that it would lead to much more points.
“What we do know is that he was really successful with them last season, he brought them back up, and that he makes it really hard for every team to play against them. Normally, these teams that go up, they need some time to adapt to a new league. If you have a good idea about football and a good gameplan, then results will come.”
Southampton earned their first Premier League win of the season in their last home game against Everton earlier this month, and have been on the end of narrow defeats to Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Manchester City.
And of his admiration for the job Martin has done at Southampton, Slot adds: “I would also admire a manager that has different principles but just keeps on doing what he believes in.
“I don’t admire him (Martin) for the style of play but I do like to watch the games back that he played at Manchester City or Arsenal, or the other games where I see very interesting and smart patterns of play.
“It was interesting to watch his teams play in terms of style of play but also in terms of gameplan, how they handled the press of City, or how they handled the press of Arsenal.
“A lot has been said about English managers lately, with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel (as new England head coach), but I faced Gary O’Neil (of Wolves) now who had a very good gameplan in my opinion, and this is again a very interesting manager, and in two or three weeks I will face Eddie Howe (of Newcastle United), who I know already is a very good manager. Maybe you are not in as bad a place as people make out.”
Both Slot and Martin are experiencing the Premier League for the first time in their managerial careers. And for the Liverpool boss, the talent available to the Southampton boss highlights the key change to which he is continuing to adjust after spells in charge at AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivisie.
“I think the biggest difference is that all the 17 other managers (in the Eredivisie), they have gameplans and style of play and all kind of great ideas, but the quality difference between the two clubs I worked for and the teams we faced was so big that you can come up with every brilliant gameplan but it doesn’t work because there is so much quality difference,” says Slot.
“Now, in the Premier League, the quality difference between the number 20 and number one isn’t as big as in the Eredivisie, so then the gameplan does work.
“Southampton and all these teams have players that can play for big clubs. Then, if you have a good gameplan and a good playing style, it can really work against us or against City or against Arsenal.
“The number 17 of the Eredivisie can have the best gameplan or the best playing style they want to have, but the difference in quality is so big that it’s just us having the ball. That’s what makes it more testing in England.”
