As Liverpool return to the AXA Coaching Centre for the beginning of pre-season coaching beneath their head coach, the Arne Slot period brings new potentialities.
The Reds are again for pre-season on July 5, with plenty of change behind the scenes since they final skilled on the AXA.
With Jurgen Klopp and lots of of his workers now departed and Slot appointed on the helm, there could possibly be a really totally different really feel about preparations for 2024/25.
Liverpool’s first of solely 4 friendlies isn’t till July 27, which means there are over three weeks for Slot to easily work along with his gamers on the coaching pitch as he builds on the profitable facet Klopp left behind.
And with a brand new head coach in place, it presents a chance for various gamers to stake their declare and common starters to show their value once more.
Listed below are 5 issues we need to see from Liverpool this pre-season.
New-look Salah firing
Mohamed Salah will return to Merseyside having undergone a drastic makeover, with the No. 11 shaving his head to spark rumours of a hair transplant.
With a brand new look might come a chance to reset, as if Salah got here away with 25 targets and 14 assists final season, it was undoubtedly a troublesome finish to the marketing campaign following one of many worst accidents of his profession.
Among the many gamers who will report back to the AXA Coaching Centre for day one, Salah can look to make an early impression earlier than flexing his muscle within the warmup video games.
As he enters the ultimate 12 months of his contract at Liverpool with no assure of an extension, it’s attainable that that is the final season with the Egyptian at Anfield.
What higher time to show he’s nonetheless among the finest on the earth?
Bajcetic lastly again up to the mark
Stefan Bajcetic will be part of Salah within the first crop of gamers again in coaching, having missed a lot of the final 15 months attributable to a lot of health points.
He was not concerned in pre-season this time final 12 months, and after a quick return in September was sidelined once more and took in what Klopp described as “his pre-season.”
The 19-year-old ought to now be absolutely match and prepared to participate once more, with the summer season’s friendlies an ideal alternative to search out his ft.
Slot will start pre-season with out the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch attributable to internationals, which implies there could possibly be extra vacancies in midfield.
Seeing Bajcetic again and settling in once more could be one of many large positives of pre-season.
Gakpo in his favorite function
Although Cody Gakpo is not going to be concerned till late in pre-season attributable to his commitments with the Netherlands on the Euros, Slot’s arrival is an intriguing one for the Dutchman.
Klopp was determined to get the deal over the road with PSV Eindhoven at the beginning of 2023, however proceeded to make use of Gakpo in quite a lot of roles away from his pure place.
At PSV, and this summer season with the Netherlands, Gakpo was vastly efficient as a left winger, reducing onto his proper foot as a continuing risk.
It’s a function that Gakpo finally took up within the closing weeks of Klopp’s farewell season, however now it must be his everlasting residence beneath Slot.
That might, after all, have ramifications on Luis Diaz – however with the Colombian’s future nonetheless doubtful, it might present a welcome answer.
Extra children step up
This pre-season is a step into the unknown, however one certainty is that it ought to function a chance for the subsequent group of children to interrupt by means of.
Final summer season noticed Jarell Quansah, Bobby Clark, Ben Doak, James McConnell, Conor Bradley and Lewis Koumas amongst these to function repeatedly, they usually went on to play a useful function within the marketing campaign correct.
That ought to proceed in Slot’s first pre-season, with the likes of Trey Nyoni, Amara Nallo, Carter Pinnington, Kieran Morrison and Trent Kone-Doherty maybe in with an opportunity of minutes.
Even when they’re merely concerned in coaching classes it will profit the Reds in the long term, with Slot introduced in partly attributable to his personal religion in youth.
Who is aware of, we might even see a Quansah-sized leap from academy to first workforce once more.
Slot’s new formation revealed
The brand new head coach arrives with the expectation being that he adopts the identical setup he used for almost all of his time accountable for AZ Alkmaar and extra not too long ago Feyenoord.
For essentially the most half, Slot has used a 4-2-3-1 system all through his managerial profession, with the choice of switching this to a extra attacking 4-3-3 relying on the state of affairs.
That can seemingly have been a key issue within the membership’s resolution to nominate him within the first place: not like fellow candidate Ruben Amorim, who depends on a 3-4-3, Slot’s tactical beliefs already swimsuit the squad in place.
The likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Harvey Elliott might even be a greater match for a formation constructed round a No. 10 than their earlier function as No. 8s.
It stays to be seen, nonetheless, whether or not he sees the gamers obtainable to him otherwise – and it received’t be till the friendlies get underway that we get an concept of his plan for the marketing campaign forward.
