Arne Slot has clear Liverpool priority that could shape club's immediate future

Arne Slot will have big shoes to fill when he officially starts work as Liverpool manager.

The Dutchman will be following in the footsteps of the greatest manager in Liverpool's modern history, with Jurgen Klopp having lifted every major trophy since joining the club nine years ago.

And so Slot will need to hit the ground running if he is to stamp his mark on the club. He'll have several tasks to get on with right away, but what should his priority be? Our writers have their say.

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Doubters must become believers once more, with a brand-new twist

Paul Gorst: Most supporters will surely remember where they were when Jurgen Klopp first met the media as new manager of Liverpool in October 2015.

The Reds boss put on a clinic inside Anfield's press room as he spoke about turning doubters to believers, how he was 'the Normal One' and how he would be sitting at the same table inside four years as a champion.

Klopp delivered on all those and nearly nine years on they remain memorable soundbites that are still referred to this day.

Arne Slot might be a different type of character but he needs to deliver that same tour-de-force as Klopp did all those years ago when he first speaks to the media and, by extension, the world.

At Liverpool, the manager is revered and while Slot will need to be up to date with all the latest cutting-edge tactical trends of European football, the position at Anfield demands that he be a statesman just as much as a football manager.

Make no mistake, every word will be assessed and analysed to the nth degree - not least on the ECHO's Liverpool FC pages - so Slot needs to show that he is a confident public orator capable of taking his new fans on a journey.

A strong showing in front of the press will go a long way towards that. Start as you mean to go on, Arne.

Slot's first week in charge can shape the next few years for Liverpool

Ian Doyle: Arne Slot really has only one priority when he takes over as Liverpool manager. More of that in a bit.

What won't be an issue is the prospect of any hangover from this season. A bit of distance will allow the players to realise they achieved their main target of the campaign - Champions League qualification - picked up the League Cup along the way and will have benefited from the experience of being involved in an unexpected title challenge until the last week.

Then there's the regenerative effect of a new boss taking over, drawing, at least in the minds of the squad, a line under what has gone before. Everyone will start afresh.

Slot is taking over a team who, rather than being at the end of their era, are instead just beginning their latest cycle, justified by the amount of younger signings made over the last 18 months and the emergence of Academy talent.

His one real major task, then, is to ensure the players are on board. There will be an understandable sense of trepidation given Slot is largely an unknown quantity, even if Liverpool's Dutch contingent will have no doubt briefed the rest of the squad.

Those early days together, then, will be crucial. Slot will quickly realise which - if any - players don't feel as though they can go along for the ride and time will then be of the essence to rejig his personnel where necessary.

Everything else will follow from there. His first week can shape the first few years for Slot and his incoming backroom staff.

First impressions count and Liverpool must be all-in on the future

Theo Squires: When Jurgen Klopp took over as Liverpool manager in October 2015, urging supporters to turn from doubters into believers, he won over the fanbase instantly.

Granted, he joined a club that just felt lucky to have him, with the German rejecting sides in a far healthier position than the Reds prior to cutting short a sabbatical to move to Anfield. But no-one ever doubted that the self-confident Klopp could transform Liverpool’s fortunes, given what he had achieved at Borussia Dortmund.

You hung on his every word and believed every single thing he said. For the Reds with Klopp at the helm, the only way was up.

After a trophy-laden nine years, Liverpool are at the party now. Unlike the departing German, the Reds don’t need their next manager, Arne Slot, to barge the door down and carry them through with him.

Slot’s job is both easier and harder. He joins a Liverpool squad in a position of strength, but has to keep them there after succeeding Klopp. There can be no future pining for the German, regardless of the success of what comes next, with the Dutchman having to convince everyone that he is worthy of succeeding the Reds’ greatest manager in the Premier League era.

Admittedly, such a prospect is easier said than done but first impressions count, at least. Slot has to talk the talk from day one, both when unveiled as Liverpool manager and when first introduced to his inherited Reds squad.

If he can emulate Klopp in forging an almost immediate togetherness, he will be off to a good start. He needs everyone to be all-in if he is to stand any chance of success.

Onlookers will always be suspicious of something new, but if Slot can quickly win over players and supporters, Liverpool can truly start to look forward rather than backwards.

Win hearts, minds and remind this team just how good they are

Joe Rimmer: Jurgen Klopp's reign may not be ending in the glorious way Liverpool fans will have wanted.

But a season in which Liverpool finished third, won a trophy and bedded in a new midfield should be considered major progress after the absolute stinker that was 2022/23.

And so while it's understandable that Liverpool's players, staff and supporters may be a little down in the dumps right now, it's up to Arne Slot to ensure that negative feeling doesn't spread.

We've seen before that the hangover of as disappointing end to 2021/22 can affect the following campaign, and it's important that Slot uses his motivational skills to immediately remind the players, and supporters for that matter, just what has been achieved this season.

Returning to the Champions League at the first time of asking, competing for the Premier League title and even though it's always a requirement for Liverpool (some clubs go lifetimes without them), winning a trophy is a great achievement and can be the start of something special.

Klopp told Liverpool that they needed to change from doubters to believers at a time when just about everyone associated with the club had become a cynic. It's a message that'll need repeating this summer as a new era beckons.

Liverpool need to stop feeling sorry for themselves, and it's up to Slot to pick them back up again.