Intense training, meetings and pre-match routine changed

Inside the first three months of Arne Slot's Liverpool reign as the changes begin to take real shape at Anfield As Arne Slot sat in front of the assembled media in early July, Liverpool's new head coach was insistent he was going to implement evolution over a revolution as the first days of pre-season loomed at the AXA Training Centre. "I don't want to take words out of Richard's (Hughes, sporting director) mouth but I think one of the reasons why he came to me was that our playing style is not so much different [to Jurgen Klopp's]." Slot said.

"We both like the fans to come into the stadium and see a team that plays with a lot of energy, that plays good football. I think that is the thing that I'm focused on most." Having had Klopp's ideas drilled into the team for much of the last decade, it made little sense to attempt a radical overhaul of the philosophies that have underpinned Liverpool 's football since 2015, particularly given the success enjoyed during that period.

But the tweaks, while subtle, were instantly visible. The early days of pre-season under Klopp and infamous drill sergeant Andreas Kornmayer were dominated by the dreaded lactate test, which involved players completing numerous laps around the perimeter of the pitches before having their blood samples measured. It was designed to measure the maximum intensity at which a player can compete before suffering from high levels of lactate in the blood, which causes fatigue.

Under Slot and his new performance coach Ruben Peeters, a new exercise, drawn up to be similarly punishing, was utilised instead. Slot changed to a Six-Minute Race Test (6MRT), which is an endurance exam that, as the name indicates, lasts for six minutes around a 400m race track with the exercise designed for those undertaking it to go as fast as possible to cover somewhere between 1.5 and 2km.

Mohamed Salah was the undisputed king of that particular event . But while the specifics of arduous running metrics may not sound like too much of a shift, it was a baking-hot Sunday morning at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field where the real adjustments started to take shape. "Patience!" Slot was heard bellowing as his players were put through their paces in Pennsylvania in late July.

"Kill them with passes," was another repeated phrase as Liverpool's stars were informed that losing possession meant an opportunity to score had been frittered away. The underlapping runs of full-backs and the slower build-up from the centre-backs were elements that contributed towards a more possession-based style that was being worked on. For the media who had congregated pitch-side for the session, it was an eye-opening hour, with the general theme being one of surprise for how intense it was compared to open training for European games that are traditionally a lot more low key.

The drill that saw the players charge at fitness staff and their rugby-style crash apparatus only furthered the idea of a demanding and taxing workout for the squad. "Training is really intense under him so we learn a lot in training but also it's never the same in matches," said Andy Robertson. "You've got fans there, you've got more pressure - so playing games helps you massively.

When we come back after internationals, the Champions League will start again. The next couple of weeks are really crucial to get a lot of time on the training pitch and try and take that into the games and then hopefully when we're after the international break when we're a game every three days, we're in the best possible shape." Liverpool also visited the renowned Front St Gym while in Philadelphia as Slot and his staff put their players to work out for some sparring sessions after a pep talk from coach George Mosee, who was outlined the mental benefits boxing can have on athletes.

The session was said to be a hugely enjoyable one for those there on the day, with Curtis Jones - who was draped in Rocky's famous stars-and-stripes robe throughout - summing up the mood. “Boxing changes your mindset,” Mosee told Liverpoolfc.com at the time.

“A lot of people think of the brutality of boxing as the main thing, but really it changes your mindset. It’s you versus you. If I can come out and perform to the best of my ability, then I can always walk away feeling like I won.

We have a saying with amateur fighting: there’s no winners and losers, it’s winners and learners. Not only for soccer but just for life." "New ideas always improve you," Lucas Leiva tells the ECHO.

"If you listen and put it into the games [new ideas], they are good and I think the players are receiving it in a good way. Of course there will be some moments when the routine changes and they will get a little bit uncomfortable at the beginning but players are used to changes with national teams and they have to adapt quickly to new routines and managers, so that will be the case. "For the young players, I think it will be good because it comes with a new manager, new ideas of football and just helps them to improve as players.

if they see it this way it will be an important season." Samy Hyypia adds: "Arne likes intensity in the games, so you can't train differently, you have to have intensity in training and then you can bring it to the game as well. So it's not like it works that you do whatever in training and then expect everyone to bring the intensity to the games, that is very dangerous for the muscles if you are not training properly.

"And if you have to sprint, you have to sprint 100% as well, so then your muscles get used to that 100% sprint as well because you have to do that many times. So I think the training should be at a similar pace to the game so everyone is used to it so then you don't have to lift your energy levels or anything else for the games." With the job title of 'head coach' rather than the all-encompassing 'manager' role, Slot is free to roll up his sleeves and get to work on the pitches, away from some of the other, more time-consuming duties that previously fell under the boss' remit at Liverpool.

The change in title was a deliberate ploy by the club that aimed to help Slot focus mainly on the specifics on the pitch itself and the Dutchman is at his most illuminating and engaging when he speaks on tactical nuance. For questions like contracts and transfers, the straight bat is often played. "[There are] a lot of changes and a lot of differences," said Harvey Elliott at the time.

"The main one being the new manager so it’s a new style of play. It’s been really enjoyable so far, we’re three weeks into pre-season now, the details that we’ve learnt and stuff like that and the depth that we’re going into and seeing certain sides of the game is really interesting. Us as players it’s something new, new tools for us to learn and we’ve just got to put it into games.

" While defenders are encouraged to pick their passes wisely, it is the centre of the pitch that has seen the most obvious alteration under Slot. Three successive victories across the United States against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United showed plenty of evidence of a slower, more controlled Liverpool with two sitting midfielders in Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch and a more traditional 'No.10' in Dominik Szoboszlai comprising the midfield makeup.

That has only continued into the competitive action. A brand coffee bar was installed at the players' entrance of the AXA Training Centre over the summer, which aims to foster more camaraderie between the squad and one theme that has been consistent is that team meetings are now more frequent. One such example was in between the pre-season friendlies against Sevilla and Las Palmas last month, when the media room at Anfield was temporarily out of use for the accredited reporters while Slot relayed some pertinent information to his players before the second match that day.

"We have meetings mostly every day," Conor Bradley said at the time. "He wants to get his tactics embedded into us. So he needs to keep doing meetings to show us what we are doing well and not doing well.

It makes sense. Some are short and sharp, some are longer. We didn’t really have meetings last year, only the day before the game.

There’s differences from what Jurgen did and what the gaffer does now. I’m enjoying learning new things, so it’s all been really good." "Arne and his staff have been very hands-on from day one with lots of meetings," says Robertson.

"[There's been] a lot of stuff on the pitch and off the pitch. Trying to get their ideas across which is tough in a tournament year with people coming back at different times. We've handled it well and tried to take a lot of information on board.

" The opening game of the Reds' Premier League season saw them have as many as 50 touches in the opposition penalty area, which was the most for a new manager's team since records of that nature began to be collated back in 2008 and the underlying numbers behind the three victories against Ipswich, Brentford and Manchester United have been hugely encouraging . In the 2-0 wins against Ipswich and Brentford, Liverpool posted 19 'build-up attacks' before altering their approach in the 3-0 humbling of Manchester United with just one across the game. The Reds made the most of their pressing instincts at Old Trafford, scoring three times after winning the ball back in United's half, ruthlessly punishing sloppy play in possession from their hosts.

In the three games so far, the Reds are averaging 17 open-play pass sequences of 10 or more, which points towards their new approach. “There’s a lot more possession, as you can probably see,” Jarell Quansah tells The Times . “Last year we played with a lot of intensity and chaos, I think we called it organised chaos.

This year there’s a more rigid approach to how we build out from the back. Everyone knows what they need to be doing, instead of [it being] a bit more off the cuff." Pre-match warm-up routines have also been altered this term.

The centre-back pairing are now asked to play long, high passes to each other to nod down to a nearby coach before restarting the drill. It's aimed at sharpening up defending long balls but in a way that keeps possession rather than simply heading clear. Shooting practice also involve fizzed, low deliveries into the area from the full-backs as opposed to high balls to head at goal.

Slot, in contrast to Klopp - who famously used to scope out the opposition from the centre circle - now watches on from his seat in the technical area. Speaking after the win at Ipswich, Robertson added: "He can raise his voice and tell you he isn't happy but we're trying to get solutions of how we can do it better, showing clips and things like that. It's not going to be perfect from day one but we're trying to implement what he wants from us.

We're all listening and there's a lot of team meetings and individual meetings, just trying to be the best version of ourselves for him and his coaches. Credit to them for all the work they've done. They have gone above and beyond so far.

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