Arne Slot: Liverpool do not need much to be title contenders

Arne Slot says Liverpool need only marginal improvement to wrestle back the Premier League title from Manchester City in his debut season as he insisted he would be more than a “Jurgen Klopp clone”.

Slot held his first press conference since his appointment and reassured the squad that he was determined to complete the successful rebuild of the club.

He has held talks with striker Darwin Nunez and told the Uruguayan he would be front and centre of his strike force, while there is confidence Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold are committed to the new era, despite entering the final years of their contracts.

Slot understands the instant pressure to build upon last year’s third spot, but says he has the tools to compete.

“Our aim should be that we want to win it, and we want to be on top of the league,” he said.

“Margins are small and sometimes it’s difficult if the margins are small and you’ve inherited a team that’s doing really well. There are only a few percentages to improve.

“But that last few percentages makes the difference between winning it, competing to the last day or ending up number three.

“We want to be there for 38 games. So, this is what we’re aiming for. To get the best out of the players to reach the maximum and then margins will decide.

“But to get in that position, it takes a lot of hard work on a daily basis to come in here and improve and improve and improve and improve. That’s what we have to do.

“We’re here to win something. We’re here to become better players, to become a better team and as an end result of that, we want to win trophies.

“We’re here at this level because every player, and the manager as well, have a burning desire inside of him that he wants to win.”

For all the excellence of his predecessor, Slot inherits some pressing issues. Among them is how to consistently unlock Nunez’s potential, and the Dutchman made it sound like he was on a personal mission to make the South American one of the Premier League’s most consistent strikers.

“I assume he will fit really well into this [playing style] because I like him. I’ve told him already,” Slot said.

“He is one of the players I have spoken to. He might have had some struggles with finishing opportunities, but he came a lot of times into those positions. It’s clear for him which position he is going to play. It’s clear for me as well and me telling him made it clear for him.

“I just told him that, from what I saw, he played multiple positions and I told him what positions – or position – I see him playing.”

Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes indicated that Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold were fully on board.

“The only concern I and Arne have about situations is total commitment from the players to the cause for next season and we are absolutely convinced that will be the case,” Hughes said.

Slot vowed to impose his own vision while respecting and building upon Klopp’s work.

“I don’t take over from a manager where I have to change the playing style completely. But, of course, I am not a clone of Jurgen,” Slot said.

“We will have some differences and I think the players will see them but also some similarities as well. Ideally, I would have started in a season when there were no Euros and no Copa America, but that’s not the situation and you have to take it the way it is.

“Everyone is telling me constantly, ‘It’s big shoes to fill’. But it’s a team and a club that is known for winning something. If you leave a club that is known for winning something then you want to go to your next club where you can win as well. That’s difficult because there are a lot of good clubs in this league, but it is a possibility. In combination with the reason why they wanted me and having a lot of trust in Richard and the structure of the club, having a lot of belief in the players we already have, it completed the picture of the right moment.”

Slot said his earliest experiences of watching Liverpool were via Match of the Day on Dutch television. He revealed he had visited Anfield only once prior to his appointment - a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 - when he was a guest of former sporting director and now FSG football chief executive Michael Edwards.

“We were like two fans going to the game. I was there as a professional but I enjoyed the game as well,” Slot said.

“We spoke a bit and I had a look and feel for the club, but not in such a way that I would assume that seven years later I would be in this position.”