Welcome to Liverpool, Arne Slot, but it seems as though he might have got off on the wrong foot.
There is already a lot of pressure on the new Liverpool boss because of the size of the club he is managing and the fact that he is replacing Jurgen Klopp.
So, you feel the Dutchman is going to need every help he can get to make his start as smooth as it can be.
Pre-season is already underway, with Liverpool yet to play a friendly game in front of their supporters, although, they have got their legs pumping behind closed doors.
In that regard, the fans haven’t got to see much of what their team is all about under their new coach – they will have to wait until July 27 when they take on Real Betis in the USA.
The Reds will also face Arsenal and Manchester United, before taking on Sevilla in their final pre-season match and then things get underway against newly-promoted Ipswich Town on August 17.
No Upcoming Fixtures
Until then, fans can only get a gauge of what their new team is all about via training clips broadcast by the club.
When new managers join a club, they all have their own ways, and sometimes they are as normal as everyone else, but they can also be very different and something you might not have seen before.
It’s fair to say. that what Steve Nicol was told about one part of Liverpool’s training under Slot has left him annoyed beyond belief.
The Anfield legend previously slaughtered Klopp for bringing in a throw-in coach to the club, but now his blood pressure has gone to even higher levels.
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Slot is making his goalkeepers ‘wear swivel vision training goggles, which limit peripheral vision and force individuals into more visual tracking and use of audio cues’.
Given that Nicol is an old-school player, it’s fair to say that he didn’t take to this news lightly, as he also watched footage of it in action, before labelling it all ‘absolute garbage’, as he told ESPN.
Liverpool in pre-season training under Arne Slot
“That’s taking the mick, away you go,” said Nicol. “What a lot of nonsense. I understand what the suggestion is and why they are doing it. But it’s garbage. What a lot of nonsense.
“Why don’t you do it with the players, then? Why are you just doing it with goalies if it’s so great, why don’t all the players do it as well? That would be fun, wouldn’t it?! What a lot of nonsense.
“When they do the shooting drills, are the goalies still going to have the glasses on? Again, how stupid is that? Help them do what? Garbage. Absolute garbage.”
Judge Arne Slot on the pitch
Whatever method he wants to take, let him be, he didn’t get the Liverpool job based on luck or a draw, but for the job he did at Feyenoord.
Rather than being annoyed, it’s best the critics just sit back and judge the actual work Slot produces out on the pitch – Trent Alexander-Arnold has opened up on his first conversation with Slot.
If Slot is to be successful, he needs backing in the transfer market, with Paul Merson sounding a transfer warning regarding Virgil van Dijk.
First off, keep your star players on board, including a contract prediction made about Mohamed Salah at Liverpool and what will happen under Slot.
And then bring in those much-needed players, with Jason Cundy thinking Liverpool could sign Marc Guehi for £60 million.
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