At AZ and Feyenoord I encountered a coach who was tactically sharp, an exceptional analyst and an astute man-manager
I was playing at FC Groningen when my teammate Etiënne Reijnen told me: “I’ve been called by my former teammate Arne, who was asking about you; how you are as a player and person.” That was my introduction to Arne Slot. He was assistant at AZ and I was told he was a very good coach. Soon after, I moved there and got to know him as a very tactical and knowledgable coach, who took a genuine interest in you as a human being as well.
As an assistant he did the tactical team talks and analysis of training sessions and he was very detailed, providing solutions to game situations while working on it in training. He motivated me every day to become a better player, to have a bigger goal in mind and to work very hard for that. So I already had that bond with him when he became head coach at AZ after a year and a half.
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His debut season was incredible. We beat many top teams and Arne made a huge impression on everyone. He always mentioned what we did well but also what we needed to improve. He would show us videos about how we could solve things before putting on relevant training exercises. He would then analyse those sessions, give feedback and ask you to apply it in matches, which he would then analyse as well. It’s the power of repetition, and he would do that many times and in different ways. For example, he would show you different ways to build from the back or to go high up the pitch. He hones all this very well, making his philosophy trainable. He is exceptional at that.
When we played against a team who sat very deep, we would train on making high runs from deep, which he would sometimes accompany with videos from other teams. For example, he would show a clip from Liverpool-Chelsea in the 80th minute, where you could see 11 players defending but someone was still able to put a ball behind the defence. He showed you it was possible. He would show clips of Liverpool but also of Atlético Madrid, like how ruthless you have to be in a low block in a certain phase of the match. He looks at the development points of the team and based on that he looks for suitable footage.
I remember Arne showing a clip of Atlético in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where their wingers had to help in defence but one of them still scored the opening goal. Those things can be really stimulating, because you see what kind of defensive work an Atlético winger is doing while getting on the scoresheet. Those are small details Arne is very good at.
He also knows how to motivate players. He used examples from other sports such as running, kickboxing and cycling. I remember when we got eliminated from the Europa League by Lask Linz, then had to play Ajax away. Arne said we had to persevere, just like the next bend or next sprint for a cyclist. We beat Ajax 2-0 and were joint first with them when coronavirus hit. We couldn’t finish the season but I’m convinced we would have won the league because we had an easier run-in.
We both left AZ that year but were reunited at Feyenoord in 2022. By then his analysis was even better and we won the Dutch title, the first for Feyenoord in six years. He is so good on the details. That’s one reason why I think he will do well at Liverpool; another is that he is a very honest manager.
A Feyenoord team including Oussama Idrissi and coached by Arne Slot celebrate the Dutch title won last season. Photograph: ANP/Getty Images
Everyone knows their place because he is transparent. To motivate the starting XI is not so difficult but he is really good with players 12 to 25 in the squad. You have many different characters in a team and he always knows how to trigger guys. He is up for a joke here and there too, and brings a certain relaxation into the squad, but he can translate it into a performance-oriented mindset.
Arne is a really nice person off the field, which was highlighted to me last season. On the day we played Ajax in the Dutch Cup semi-final, my wife was about to give birth. I was in doubt whether to be with her or stay with the team but Arne convinced me to put family first and luckily I was on time for the birth of my child. In the end I still played the match as well.
