How Lance Armstrong inspired Arne Slot and reveals secrets of Liverpool success | OneFootball

The methods that won a Premier League title were tried out on unknown Dutch teenagers. They may not have changed much since. Arne Slot claimed he was doing the same things when coaching Zwolle’s Under-14 team as he was when he had reached the ranks of the elite managers. Perhaps it illustrated the confidence in his ability that has been an asset on a remarkable rise, but Slot is a manager with many influences.

On Dutch television, when asked which players they would rather have been, Marco van Basten replied Johan Cruyff and Ruud Gullit said Diego Maradona, Slot’s response was any coached by Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp. “That way, I could see for myself what outstanding coaches are,” he explained.

And that, it should be noted, was before he was handpicked as Klopp’s successor. His love of Guardiola’s football was apparent even before he arrived at Anfield. Yet there was a distinct Liverpool influence, too: Klopp’s long-time assistant, and now Guardiola’s sidekick, Pep Lijnders was one of the coaches he used to speak to most earlier in his career. After a chat in 2015, Slot said he couldn’t remember an afternoon when he learnt more about football.

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Slot’s influences and inspirations are explored in a new biography that charts his impressive rise (Getty)

Slot has been keen not to be labelled a laptop coach – just as his assistant Sipke Hulshoff rejects the tag of a “computer nerd” – but video analysis forms a key part of his management. When he used clips of a midfielder to show to his charges, it was his fellow Dutchman, Gini Wijnaldum, then of Liverpool.

They are an eclectic assortment, the Slot influences. His father Arend can be one: the Liverpool manager has noted that his dad will sometimes agree with commentators’ criticisms of his side. Roberto de Zerbi is certainly another. But if Thomas Tuchel can seem a less obvious stylistic fit, another of Slot’s videos was of Chelsea’s win in the 2021 Champions League final. This, he told his Feyenoord players, was an example of a “zero-chance game” they needed to emulate.

Off the pitch, Slot studied the now disgraced Lance Armstrong: not for his illicit methods of gaining an edge but because of the psychological methods he could deploy. He told his players about the strategies the American cyclist used to demoralise rivals when not feeling perfect, smiling into camera to make it look he was better than he was. Slot can seem less aggressive, but he likes to look in control.

A new biography, ‘Arne Slot: The New Era’ by the Dutch journalist Milos Gouka, who covered his compatriot’s time in charge of Feyenoord, sheds light on the Liverpool manager’s background and thinking. A recurring theme in Slot’s training sessions – in professional football, if not necessarily with Zwolle Under-14s – are possession drills where six players take on two.

A particular obsession tactically is what he calls “the hot zone”, a phrase Slot himself dislikes, but refers to the area between the opponents’ defence and midfield. It is where a No 10 operates and may explain why he broke Liverpool’s transfer record to sign Florian Wirtz. Spending £100m on a player for that position illustrates the importance of the hot zone to him.

While Slot likes a coaching staff with common denominators, in language and thinking – whereas some managerial double acts are opposites, he and Hulshoff have similarities – it is notable he not brought any of his former players to Liverpool. But a 2020 Europa League double header between AZ Alkmaar and a Real Sociedad side including both Martin Zubimendi and Alexander Isak may have informed Liverpool’s transfer wishlist both last summer and this.

Slot’s departure from AZ has left a mark, too. When the Eredivisie was curtailed in 2020 because of Covid, Slot’s side were level on points with an Ajax team, under Erik ten Hag, who had been Champions League semi-finalists the previous year.

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Arne Slot won the Premier League title in his first season in charge of Liverpool (Getty Images)

It felt a remarkable feat and yet AZ were slow to open contract talks with Slot. When they did, they only proposed extending his deal by one year. Meanwhile, Feyenoord had taken note as they looked for a long-term replacement for the veteran Dick Advocaat.

Slot, who did not realise AZ knew he had met Feyenoord technical director Frank Arnesen, was fired in a 30-second meeting. He felt interpretations of his actions were unfair and later said: “It's ridiculous a coach isn't allowed to talk to other clubs when his contract is expiring."

He was perceived badly in Alkmaar. "I had been sacked from a local job and people around Alkmaar were using words like "snake" and "Nazi" about me. It had a big impact on the kids," he said. It was a reason he decided his family, who remain in the Netherlands now, should not move to Rotterdam; instead, he rented a flat there.

Liverpool could nevertheless be grateful to Feyenoord; and, in particular, that Feyenoord did not appoint an Anfield favourite. Their previous technical directors would have chosen Dirk Kuyt. Arnesen went for Slot.

He made took them to an Eredivisie title and a European final, aided by a winning informality. Slot let his Feyenoord players call him ‘Arne’ if they wanted. He felt it is important they saw the coaching staff smiling and enjoying their jobs.

He nonetheless insisted on hard work. He told their squad at the start of his reign there would be a 30 to 50 percent increases in high intensity runs in games and in their distance covered. It is an approach that has helped Slot travel from Zwolle Under-14s to Liverpool in little more than a decade.