Alisson: Slot "Showing His Qualities" Amidst Great Run of Form
Yesterday at 05:35 PM
Liverpool's Number 1 talks progress at Anfield
Liverpool close up 2024 with a tilt against West Ham on Sunday, December 29th. The Reds will have a chance to end the year at the top of the Premier League table and at least 6 points clear of their nearest title challengers with a win against Julen Lopetegui's Hammers.
Alisson Becker has had the chance to reflect on the state of things at the club and spoke a little bit to the official site about the public expectations facing Arne Slot as he looked to take over after Jurgen Klopp.
"I think when Arne joined the club, everybody thought it would be hard work for him to replace a manager like Jürgen [Klopp]. But he's showing his qualities and brings us a lot of good things."
Slot's Reds are, as mentioned, top of the league table. They're also top of the Champions League's table given their new format, into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, and alive in the FA Cup. Slot has, then, managed to pick-up where Jurgen Klopp left-off, who'd been in contention for all trophies late into two of his last three seasons.
It is an incredible half-season for the Dutchman given most leadership transitions are marked with wobbles. Ali gave his take on why things might be going so smoothly.
"I want to highlight the commitment of this team, of the players, to do what the manager asks. To go every day and train hard. And having the desire to improve as well to be a better team and the desire of winning big things for this club."
I should be no surprise given Jurgen's own proclivity for finding players who wanted, more than anything, to just go about the work that this squad made up entirely of his own choosing is making manifest that mentality. It's something that anyone that's witnessed a major shift at the top of a project can appreciate: commitment to the project will often serve to fill in the gaps that new leadership might present. Put differently, aligning on the vision often affords the folks at the top the necessary grace to implement the tweaks - little and large - to achieve the greater goal.
The whole interview is worth a read for fans, like myself, that are interested in the interior machinations of leading and building teams. What we're seeing at Liverpool doesn't happen all the time. It is absolutely early days yet, but the Arne Slot Era is off to a start that not even the most optimistic could have envisioned.
