Arne Slot won over Liverpool players with clever switch to target Man Utd star

Daily Mirror

22-05-2025

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has become a Premier League champion at the first time of asking, and points to one of the Reds' first games of the season as a key moment. Slot had big shoes to fill after replacing long-serving boss Jurgen Klopp, but a subtle tweak he made in just the third game of the season had a big impact.
After beginning the season with 2-0 victories over Ipswich and Brentford, Liverpool faced a big early test with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. A 3-0 win kept up their perfect start, though, while accelerating the United decline which saw Erik ten Hag sacked in Octoner.
Liverpool's victory owed a lot to Slot putting Dominik Szoboszlai directly up against Casemiro. United's Brazilian midfielder had a torrid time, leaving the field at half-time, and the visitors were never in any real danger during their victory.
"Just recently some Dutch media asked me: 'What was the game where you probably won the players over?' I think it was this game because we changed some small details in the way we did our build up," Slot told The Athletic
"I said to them that United would be expecting Dominik Szoboszlai to play on the right. That they will have prepared all week for it, but he's going to play on the left and we're going to do this, this and this a bit different. Indeed exactly what I said happened."
Liverpool were 2-0 up at the break after a Luis Diaz break and extended their advantage 10 minutes into the second half through Mohamed Salah. Slot's team lost their next league game, at home to Nottingham Forest, but then went on an unbeaten league run which lasted until April.
"Did we win the game because of that reason? No. We scored two counter-attacks, maybe even three!" Slot added. "But I think it was a day when the players thought: 'Oh, what he's trying to tell us works'. And to win 3-0 at Old Trafford gave us the confidence that there was maybe something special ahead of us."
Since clinching the title with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at the end of April, Liverpool have gone three games without a win. They have a chance to go out on a high, though, with Crystal Palace visiting Anfield for the final game of the season.
"It's going to be a completely different game than the one tonight," Slot told Match of the Day when asked about the finale after Monday's 3-2 loss at Brighton. "You saw Brighton want to press us high and bring the ball out from the back but if Palace play like their cup final then we'll have more possession than tonight but it's very difficult to play through them."
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