After eight years of the Jurgen Klopp era in Liverpool, next season will mark the start of a chapter in Liverpool’s history with Arne Slot. With the Euro 24 and Copa America done and dusted, players on INTL duty are due to report back in a few weeks’ time. But those who had a summer to recover are already back in training, and it looks nothing but intense under the Dutch manager.
Sipke Hulshoff, Ruben Peeters and Fabian Otte make the new coaching staff under Slot and things have already picked up pace since last week in the AXA training facility. Liverpool recently released behind-the-scenes footage of training from their Kirkby base.
Eager fans are relishing the opportunity to see their favourite stars in training action and those look like the kinda sh*t you’d see in the Avengers compound. At least that’s what the fans think after a first viewing of the video posted by the club’s social media handle.
Mohamed Salah is back in training with his new hairstyle. The famed afro no longer adorns the Egyptian king’s head. His almost bald head gives off an aura of a hardened veteran, focused on only winning.
He is seen doing some intense core exercises with fast reps of stationary running. Kostas Tsimikas took it up a notch by hopping on his back to slow him down. Curtis Jones was also present, doing some stretching with a look of determination on his face. He looked in the zone and looked far more serious than he usually does.
Harvey Elliot was dashing at a kick pad for strength training along with U21 talents. As if he was leading the cavalry to a charge with a repeated barrage on the pad. Wataru Endo was lifting weights and kept his hands horizontally straight across the shoulders for prolonged stress. His puffed up cheeks were enough to indicate the hard time he was having with the weight training.
The duo of Salah and Tsimikas were again seen in the action. It was their turn to dash the kick pad. Salah, in his black body-hugging base-layer, showed his ripped physique as he went to shove the pad with all his strength. There was just a hint of overall menace about it that was not seen before and the fans loved it.
The overall scene was enough to convince the fans that Liverpool means business and training intensity is something that they can relate to from Klopp’s time at the club. The Reds fans commented on the X thread and, judging by their comments, they were nothing but impressed.
We’ve already met Arne Slot’s goalkeeping coach, Fabian Otte. The nerdy coach has already taken things up a notch with his Swivel Glasses training that causes partial visual impairment for heightened reflexes and anticipation.
‘I’m enjoying it a lot. The pitches are great. The boys are full of energy; Pep [Lijnders] and Jürgen already said to me last season that I’m going to enjoy working with them – and they haven’t lied at all. Full of energy,’ Slot said after the first training week.
The feedback from the players also resonates with Slot. Tsimikas said, ‘Very good. Quite intense! I think the boys give every day the best possible. [Slot] has very good ideas, in my opinion, and we work really hard to try to understand the way he wants us to play,’ when asked about the training.
Liverpool will fly off to the USA later this month with their first friendly scheduled against Real Betis, followed by Arsenal and Manchester United. With the rest of the squad joining by then, fans can only expect their Avengers to lead the club to a winning charge.
