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Arne Slot believes his Liverpool players can take inspiration from Bruce Springsteen as they aim to repeat the success of winning the Premier League next season. The Dutchman went to see the Boss behind enemy lines in Manchester on Tuesday night to witness a masterclass of a different kind.
Liverpool will be awarded the Premier League trophy by Alan Hansen after their final game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday. The next challenge for Slot will come when his players return for pre-season training on 8 July and the Dutchman waits to see if his squad can build on the glory days achieved during his first season in charge.
“You talk about elite mentality,” Slot said of Springsteen. “This guy’s been doing it for 50-odd years and he’s still putting on three-hour shows in front of 25,000 people. I’ve heard how he does this, what he does in his daily life, talking about habits, how disciplined he is to achieve this. Springsteen, at 75, is still able to do three hours on stage without even one minute of rest. He took three or four drinks of what I assume was water.”
Slot has admitted to wanting more from Trent Alexander-Arnold during pre-season and hopes his players follow the example of Mohamed Salah in the summer, who was born to run and finished top of the fitness charts on day one under the head coach.
“One of the reasons why you play at a club like Liverpool is because you have elite mentality, and you have the mentality of a serial winner,” Slot said. “But sometimes as a manager you have to help them a little bit to inspire them, or to be hard on them, or to compliment them.
“I’ve seen this already with Mo Salah, I always give him as an example, because last season he was number one when we had this [fitness] test in the league and that told me a lot. That’s why he’s for seven years already at elite level. And if you look at all the elite players in all different sports, they all say the same. If you want to be a serial winner, it’s just about consistency in your discipline throughout your whole career or your whole life.
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“Last season many of my players, and myself, hadn’t won the league in England. A few of them only had – now they’ve all won it. Now let’s see how they react.”
