Jürgen Klopp hails Arne Slot’s early impact at Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp has said he believes Arne Slot’s mark on Liverpool is already “obvious”, adding that he doesn’t miss the job but misses the players.

Slot took charge of his first Premier League game on Saturday and helped Liverpool to a 2-0 win at Ipswich.

It was the first competitive game of the post-Klopp era as Slot replaced the man who took charge of Liverpool for almost nine years and guided them to the Champions League title in 2019, the Premier League in 2020, an FA Cup and two league titles. Cup triumphs.

Replacing the German manager was always going to be difficult, but Klopp said he was delighted when Liverpool turned to Slott and completed the deal at the start of the summer.

In an interview with ESPN Holland, Klopp said: “Arne, yes. Very good coach. I was very happy when I heard that Liverpool were going for Arne Slot. I wasn’t involved in anything, it shouldn’t be like that and I’m not that kind of guy in the background, I still have some strings and stuff. The club is too big, too good.

“A lot of things have changed since I left. But the only worry for me was will they get a good manager? Liverpool were early and Liverpool got a top, top, top solution in Arne Slot.”

He added: “I really like his football (the way he played with him, with (Feyenoord) so it’s really good. I saw the Sevilla game, the pre-season friendly at Anfield — a lot of was very good. And the league game (against Ipswich), the second half was obviously very good.

“But it’s not important that I like it, you can see that he’s a very good coach and that the team, I know now better than most, is a very good team, it’s a very good team. So it will work very well. .”

Klopp and Slot spoke in the early stages of the transfer window and have kept in touch ever since. And after watching Liverpool’s pre-season and triumph over Ipswich, Klopp can already see clear signs that Slot’s philosophy is having an impact at the club.

“We spoke once or twice (in the beginning). I think we texted a few more times. But I can’t tell him anything he couldn’t know himself,” Klopp said. “At this point, for me, just to give positive feedback at the beginning, because we’re all human beings, and he knocked his socks off.

“I know because the tour is super intense in a year where you have the Euros and the Copa, you don’t have the team together, but they come, you have a week until the first matchday and stuff like that. had a similar but exact same situation?

“When I saw the games, that’s why I looked at him, not to think, oh, what does he look like? The work he did was obvious, the ideas were obvious. And that’s the best thing you can do say about the coach.”

Klopp has kept in touch with some of the players since leaving the club, including captain Virgil van Dijk.

“Unbelievable player,” Klopp said of Van Dijk. “Unbelievable player. Incredible guy. So I miss them. I don’t miss the job, (but) I miss all the people there. We can, we can see each other whenever we want in the future.”

Van Dijk’s contract is up at the end of the season, but Klopp is said to be unimpressed with how things will work out between his old captain and the club.

“I have no idea what they’re going to do, what they’re going to do,” the former coach said. “And it’s all their decision. They’re adults. They’re going to do the right thing.”

Klopp is taking a break from management and has promised to take a year off from the game. He says he feels “fully charged” after nine weeks off since finishing at Liverpool, but is in no rush to return before his self-imposed 365 days are up. He spent the summer with his family, watching the Olympics, playing padel and keeping a close eye on how his Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders is doing in charge of RB Salzburg.

“I didn’t say I could walk again,” he said. “Just being in a good mood? Yes. Life is different if we are not responsible for such things, so I really like that.

“I still like watching football and especially Salzburg at the moment because (manager) Pep (Lijnders) is very important to me, so I like to watch him and I like to see the progress. I also saw Liverpool play (which) was really good. Those are the things I watched, but other than that, there were a lot of Olympics and stuff like that.

“Brilliant summer so far. You have to organize your free time as well, because a lot of people want to meet you and stuff like that. So we had to calm down a bit, but we’re fine. We spent three weeks now with the grandchildren and the children together. It was beautiful.”