In full: Read Arne Slot’s first interview as Liverpool head coach

It is a big change but change is exciting too, isn’t it?

It is, it is. I am wearing the new jersey and, of course, there is change but a lot of things are still the same as well. I think the players are still the same, which is probably the most important thing because, of course, we as managers sometimes tend to think that we have a lot of influence, which we can have, but in the end it comes down to the players. And I think the fans are still the same so many things are still the same and yeah, we are going to try to work on what Jürgen left behind and we will see a lot of similar things. But, of course, I bring my own things to the table as well and I think that’s also what is expected of me.

Your official title is ‘head coach’. What does that mean for you?

For me, it is normal because this is the way it is in Europe and in Holland. I don’t think there is much of a change between a head coach and a manager, it’s just that by being a head coach I can go in fully to the things I would like to do. So, work with the team, prepare the team in the best possible way, and me and Richard are going to work together when it comes to transfers but not only the two of us – there is a big backroom staff included in this as well. I think for me it is the way I have worked always and it for me is the ideal way of working because I can use the most of my time by working with the team and the time that is left will probably be a bit for the family and a bit to talk with Richard about how we can strengthen the team. But we already have a really strong team.

Can you tell us a little bit about when Liverpool’s interest became real for you and there was a possibility of you taking the job, and that moment where you decide that this was the right move for you?

I think those moments are always very private because nobody needs to know about it. So the first time you hear that Liverpool is interested in you, you have to keep it between me and my wife. I always knew that it had to be a fantastic club where I would leave Feyenoord for, and this was Liverpool and the league as well. I think it was a year ago that I was in the interest of a few Premier League clubs as well but I decided to extend at Feyenoord with the idea of staying there two more seasons.

But after a year, Liverpool came along and – like I just told you about the rivalry between City and Liverpool and the many games we as football fans saw – it wasn’t a difficult choice to make. Although, like I said, I was really happy at Feyenoord, the way I work there with the fans, with the staff, with the players. But this was the possibility I had to take.

Can you tell us about you? How would you describe yourself as a head coach?

When I come in in the first days, in the first week I’m here, I will be really focused on the training ground. I think there is the place where you can influence the most and you have to influence the most, because you have to influence your players, common to [the] game model and your game plan. And I think that’s where it’s all about – to find a way of playing which suits the players the best and then adjust maybe with the game plan a bit where we can win a few things. But that’s all tactical and I think there’s something else towards being a head coach or a manager or the way you want to call it and that is the relations you have with people.

The relationships I have with my staff but also the players, how they get along with each other and the relationships between staff and players – and I think this was one of the things, looking at it from the outside, where Jürgen was great at as well apart from playing style. That is a challenge because I’m 100 per cent sure that many people who are still at this club still love him. We have to find a way that people get used to me and used to the new staff that’s coming in, and get the same energy in this building and eventually into the stadium as well because that’s where it’s all about – we have to perform during the games. But to perform there, I think it’s important to have a good idea of how we want to play and a good energy within the team and within the people who are working at Liverpool.

It seems from what I’ve read that you take a lot of learning experiences from other sports. It’s not just football you take an interest in and what you can learn as a coach…

Not tactically, of course, because those are different sports, but the way some sports handle the mental side of the game can help you. And I sometimes used it in team meetings before a game, so I tried to use examples of cycling or at the moment we’ve seen Roland-Garros and we’ve seen [Novak] Djokovic winning in a really tough game, and I think that’s one of his qualities, that he can also win the game when it’s not going his way, he can still find a way to win it. I think those are examples you can use towards players as well. But let’s be clear: we are mostly talking about football and it’s not going to be the situation that players are going to listen to all kinds of other sports. Sometimes I use it but only if I think it’s necessary.

It’s a big change behind the scenes and you will bring with you your support staff, your coaches. Can you tell us a little bit about them, their personalities and what they will offer this playing squad and this fanbase at Liverpool?

Like I just said already, Jürgen left the club in a really good place, left the team in a really good place. I think we have a lot of quality and the way they played last season was already impressive, so we are going to build from there. Of course, you want to take some people with you as well because they know who you are, they know your playing style and they can translate this to the other people in the staff as well. But if you go to a club like Liverpool, you can assume – and I already noticed that – that there are a lot of good people working here as well. So, we are going to use hopefully the best of both worlds to implement a few things from us and to use the knowledge that is inside this club already because of the nine years Jürgen and his staff worked here.

I bring in Sipke Hulshoff, who’s been my assistant for a few years now at Feyenoord. I worked with him long ago, I worked with him at Cambuur Leeuwarden as well. He was the assistant of Ronald Koeman of the Dutch national team as well, but he is going to join me now from the start. A bit older than me, I think, not so much but a bit older than me. Because we work together for such a long time, I think the both of us know exactly what we want when it comes to game model, playing style – and I think that helps.

Then we will bring in a performance coach, Ruben Peeters, who is going to help me and the club with – how would I put this in English words? – the way we are working on the physical side. Us three have worked together at Feyenoord for three years now and we know how we want to work, which is normal. And then there’s a replacement in the goalkeeping staff as well – we’ve brought in Fabian Otte, who was working at Borussia Monchengladbach and is still now with the USA team at the Copa America.

So those are the first positions we filled in and I think we are still looking for one or two other positions. I just said in the beginning of the interview that Richard and me are calling each other a lot, not only about this but also about the positions we still have to fill in.