4 months ago
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Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Liverpool midfielder is excited by Arne Slot’s approach but the real proof will come when the games start.
As a manager, arriving at a new club as Arne Slot has at Liverpool tasked with taking over from an all-time legend who ended a three decade domestic title drought and reestablished the club as a European power is a monumental task.
For fans, the first chance to see what Slot’s Liverpool might look like comes on Friday when they kick off their USA pre-season tour against Real Betis. For the players, though, there has been nearly three weeks of training with the new boss already—and Curtis Jones at least says he’s very much enjoyed it.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in terms of a style of play that suits me and the lads that we have in our team,” Jones said when asked about how the squad is feeling about any tactical tweaks Slot has implemented in recent weeks.
“It’s a clear plan. In the training stuff, he is fully involved, he coaches us a lot, he is big on the finer details in things. He has a certain way of playing and he knows it is going to take a little bit of time because it’s a change [but] he and his staff are chilled about it and they know that the quality is there.”
When Slot was hired, much of the talk was about Liverpool seeking out a manager whose approach would be if not identical to Klopp’s at least compatible with the squad Klopp had assembled—and with the various youth teams that were coached similarly.
Inevitably, though, there will be changes, and while Jones’ words are probably what one would expect any player to say in the circumstances, it’s still encouraging to hear how bullish the 23-year-old Scouse midfielder is sounding.
Now, the goal will be translating those good words and the positivity to the pitch against live opposition, even with everyone understanding that even if the changes under Slot are evolutionary rather than revolutionary it may take a little time to get things to click just the way the Dutch trainer envisages.
“I came around the team as a young lad,” Jones added. “I always had a way of playing [but] I had to adapt, that was part of the plan. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t do, but I feel now this is more me. I can get on the ball more, I can do me more, so I’m excited.”
