Standards Won’t Drop At Liverpool After Salah’s Exit – Slot

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has issued a fiery defence of his squad’s culture. This comes following suggestions from Mohamed Salah that the club’s winning standards might slip once he departs this summer.

According to him, he will not tolerate questions regarding the professionalism of his current players because the foundations at Anfield are as strong as ever.

Emphasizing that the standards are not only important in the gym, Slot added that Salah simply meant standards are really important at Liverpool football club.

His words, “Does Virgil [van Dijk] mean the same as what Mo is saying? And what Mo is saying is that standards are really important for a football club.

I cannot agree more with him! I did not hear him say that the standards are not okay now. Did you? I’m not worried about it, let’s put it that way. I’m not worried that the standards will be lower next season than they were this season, or the season before or the season before. No. I’m not worried about it. At all.

I wish I was able to say what I feel at this moment but I can’t.

So, how will I answer that question then? As I said, I completely agree with him (Salah) how important these standards are. I think they (standards) are in a good place at the moment. I think it also makes sense that younger players – it doesn’t have to be the new players, it can be the seven-year-old that comes from the Academy – they usually gets the example of players like Mo and others for them to understand and to know what it takes to play every three days at this level.

I don’t know what time they are in the gym, by the way. But I do know they set the right standards on the pitch.

And this is what Mo did when he was 26. I don’t think it comes down to ages that only 32 or 33-year-old players can set standards. They have lived it and experienced it and know what it takes to play at this level. But come on, we are not talking about Florian Wirtz or Hugo Ekitike or Alexander Isak and all these players we signed. They are not children, these are serious professionals that now know what it takes to play in the Premier League and Champions League at this level.

Do standards come from the manager? 100 per cent, he is very important. Players can help in that but it is definitely also that the manager sets standards as well. The standards are not only important in the gym. It’s also on the pitch. Okay. You understand me? Without me saying anything?”

WOW.

Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation.

Domestically, the club has won 19 league titles, eight FA Cups, a record nine League Cups and 16 FA Community Shields. In international competitions, the club has won six European Cups, three UEFA Cups, four UEFA Super Cups—all English records—and one FIFA Club World Cup.

The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, led the club to a combined 11 League titles and four European Cups. Liverpool won two further European Cups in 2005 and 2019 under the management of Rafael Benítez and Jürgen Klopp, respectively; the latter led Liverpool to a 19th league title in 2020, the club’s first during the Premier League era.

Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park. Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the club moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding. Left with an empty ground, Houlding founded Liverpool in 1892 and the club has played at Anfield ever since. The capacity of the stadium at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool’s first match at Anfield.