I've watched Arne Slot in action on training pitch - change is coming at Liverpool

Hi, Paul Gorst here, the Liverpool ECHO’s Liverpool FC correspondent. Ahead of a brand new era getting underway, helmed by Arne Slot, here’s a look at what we can expect at a new-look Liverpool.

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While it's hoped that familiarity will breed consistency on the pitch for Liverpool this season, it's a stark contrast off it as a brand new era takes its first steps forward.

After the wildly successful tenure of Jurgen Klopp - a glittering period that reinvigorated the club commercially and culturally just as much as it did from a sporting perspective - comes Arne Slot, the Dutch coach who arrived from Feyenoord at the start of June.

Slot's appointment as the Reds' first-ever 'head coach' was done as a deliberate way of alleviating the exhaustive list of responsibilities that eventually led to burnout for Klopp, whose frank late-January admission that he was "running out of energy" was initially told the club's owners as far back as November of last year.

The stepping-aside of Klopp, which was confirmed to Fenway Sports Group well over six months before becoming an eventuality allowed the Boston-based group to strategically plot for their next stage and a measured approach was taken towards restructuring the setup behind the scenes.

Michael Edwards was courted for what, by executive-level standards, represented something of a sensational return in March and the club's maiden sporting director - whose reputation among the fanbase had become mythical due to the success of the players he helped bring in - returned as FSG's first-ever 'CEO of football'. That title was a bespoke one created specifically for Edwards. It essentially means he is now the day-to-day head of the operation at Anfield, taking over FSG president Mike Gordon, whose hands-on nature owed much to his famous relationship with Klopp.

Edwards immediately headhunted Richard Hughes from Bournemouth to fill what had become the off-field problem position of sporting director. After Julian Ward had announced his end-of-season exit just a months into the role in 2022 before stop-gap Jorge Schmadtke left at the end of the January, months before the end of his one-year deal, it was clear Liverpool needed a steady, guiding hand to come into a role which has become hugely prominent and important in English football over the last decade or so.

Hughes's track record at Bournemouth, his knowledge and contacts books across Italian and Spanish football and his history of working with Edwards marked him out as the outstanding candidate and he was officially named as the new sporting director shortly after Edwards's own return was rubber stamped.

Hughes flew out to the Netherlands to secure Slot's signature after intense talks with first his agent, the Brazilian lawyer Rafaela Pimenta and then Feyenoord themselves and after turning down Tottenham last year, the Dutchman decided the lure of Anfield was too much to resist.

Having all started their roles on June 1, a new axis of power was born at Anfield but it's been slow progress on the recruitment front as interest of varying degrees for Leny Yoro, Anthony Gordon and Martin Zubimendi have all yielded little.

On the pitch, Slot has spent the early weeks justifying the belief in his coaching abilities. The ECHO was pitchside in Philadelphia for open training at Lincoln Financial Field and the Reds players were put through their paces by a head coach who had no qualms rolling up his sleeves and dishing out the instructions to his new complement of players.

"Patience" and "kill them with passes" were the repeated phrases to his players as the Dutchman set about introducing a more possession-based style of play alongside the electric bursts and direct transitions that made Klopp's style so easy on the eye as its best.

The plan seems to be to stretch teams and break them down more methodically than previously under Klopp. While nerves and anxiety was felt at times when Liverpool were unable to grab an early lead or when they, as so often happened last season, conceded first, Slot's idea appears to be aimed at dominating the ball and working the opposition into submission.

“Maybe the only slight difference there is, is that after we win the ball, I like to go forward just as Jurgen liked it," Slot professed this week. "But I sometimes like it when players try to keep the ball and not play the difficult ball, where Jürgen or the former regime maybe liked the chaotic scenes in and around the 16 a lot as well. They were really, really, really successful with that for so many years.

“But it sometimes also depends a bit on the players you have. I think we’re trying to find the balance between trying to create chaos at certain moments and trying to keep possession of the ball a bit longer in other moments.”

The first halves of the pre-season games in front of fans, against Real Betis, Arsenal, Manchester United and Sevilla, have all been characterised by impressive performances from Slot's men. Inevitably, the raft of changes and the desire to avoid injuries has seen the tempo drop at times after the break, but the opening 45 minutes in those aforementioned victories have all left an impression.

With a full set of players fit and ready, Liverpool's squad is the envy of many and it is perhaps why there is no panic in the recruitment department or desire to foist a number of unsuitable additions on Slot purely for the sake of it.

That being said, there is room to improve and with time running out, it will be fascinating how Liverpool approach the final days of the transfer window. On the pitch, though, Slot has them fine tuned as it stands. A new era is finally ready to lift off.

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Heading into my sixth season as LFC correspondent - both home and away - and having worked at the ECHO since 2016, I’m proud of what we have been able to build on the Blood Red podcast. We record every Monday and Friday and can be found wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube, here: (73) Blood Red: Liverpool FC - YouTube