Arne Slot has taken over from Jurgen Klopp to lead Liverpool. The 46-year-old leader, who has achieved results only in Holland with Feyenoord, is boldly taking on his first challenge in the Premier League, where the league is of a different level.
It is early days, but in a Liverpool side that has continued to perform well since the start of the season, the most impressive change from last season has been Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch. Converted to the ‘No.6’ position by the new manager, his talent has blossomed.
Along with Alexis Mac Allister, he has been one of the top performers at the bottom of midfield and was named Player of the Match against Wolves yesterday.
Referring to the 22-year-old midfielder’s performance, Slot revealed his surprise at how much he has developed off the ball since his Eredivisie days.
“He’s just very comfortable on the ball, and with (Alexis) Mac Allister as well, that helps the team if you want to have a possession-based style of play.”
“You want to have the ball; you want to keep it as long as you can. It always helps if you have two players that are so comfortable on the ball in the holding midfielder position, and the two of them can run as well.”
“To be completely honest, that surprised me even a bit because I know him from the Dutch league, but I think at Bayern Munich and Jurgen (Klopp) did a real good job to make him also better without the ball, and that’s what we are taking the benefits of right now,”
Sky Sports