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Ex-Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, who left the Anfield side in 2023 when his contract expired, has outlined what some of his old teammates have told him about life under Arne Slot.
"The new manager has come in and instantly been able to get the best out of the team," Keita, who now plays in Hungary for Ferencvaros, told Telecomasia. "He’s been able to get his ideas across easily and early, which is a very good thing.
"I still speak to a lot of my teammates and they say that the new manager is very good, which is easy to believe given how they’re performing."
This season, Slot's side has started relatively well in terms of results. Liverpool sits top of the Premier League table ahead of this round of fixtures and it has already beaten Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Slot knows that performances must improve, though, off the back of successive defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray. That process will start today in a tricky-looking game at Stamford Bridge.
Heading into the game, Slot outlined his thoughts on why Liverpool has struggled to create chances from open play so far this season — in part, he believes, because of a "gift" left behind by Jurgen Klopp.
"We are too focused on this season, but the second part of last season had a lot of similarities," Slot said. "There is one exception: the second part of last season, we scored seven set-piece goals, which led to a lot of wins.
"This season, we conceded four, I think. And tomorrow we play Chelsea; they have scored more than 50 per cent of their goals from set-pieces, so this is the new reality in the Premier League.
"We were doing this really well in the second part of last season, and this year we have had many good chances from set-pieces, but we unfortunately didn't score yet.
"We have been very close. Ibou [Konate] had a big chance against Galatasaray and Crystal Palace, so I'm very happy about the amount of chances we generate from set-pieces, but we haven't scored yet.
"The first part of last season, Jurgen [Klopp] gave me a lot of gifts, but one of the gifts he also gave me was ending up third the year before, and fifth the year before.
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"Him being so well known, the new manager came in and everybody thought, 'Let's start to play against Liverpool'.
"Teams played in a completely different way in the first half of the season against us than they did when we were top of the league after half a season.
"I can see this going now in this part of the season, and we have to find answers to that. Last season, one of the answers was set-pieces, like many teams unlock low blocks with set-pieces. We haven't done that yet."
"I remember when I first joined Liverpool, he [Jurgen Klopp] told me: 'Naby, you’re here finally and you’ve earned it'," Keita added.
"'I want you to enjoy it and won’t put any pressure on you — the most important thing is for you to enjoy your time'. For me, that always made me want to go out there and play my best for him.
"Everybody sees his passion when he’s on the touchline, but he’s a very emotional and sensible person too."
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