The phrase ‘home truths’ took on a different meaning for Arne Slot this week when he picked up the phone to speak to his parents.
Arend Slot, like any proud dad, has invested himself religiously in his son’s fortunes and now considers himself a Liverpool devotee.
The lines between fan and father, however, became blurred after a 2-1 defeat of Lille in the Champions League that owed as much to perspiration as inspiration.
‘When I call him he said: ‘Ah, it wasn’t as exciting as other games of Liverpool’ when he watched the game against Lille,’ Slot relayed with a telling smile.
‘I tried to explain to him these games you can easily lose if you are starting to force all kinds of difficult balls but he’s not always agreeing with me!
‘As a manager I was quite happy with our performance. Lille were well organised and there was one moment I remember Curtis Jones tried to play, from the halfway line, a ball that had a bit of risk. We lost that ball and they counter-attacked us.
Arne Slot revealed his father was less than impressed by Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Lille
Mohamed Salah (right) opened the scoring as Liverpool won again in the Champions League
‘So that is the risk you have if you play against a low-block team. Nottingham Forest is probably the best in the league if you play these stupid balls – I call them stupid balls – which my father would love to see us playing a bit more!’
It wouldn’t be in the nature of Liverpool’s head coach to take unnecessary risks and it says everything for the assured progress they have made under Slot’s watch that they will attack the second half of the season as the favourites to win the Premier League.
There is tranquillity at the club and this must be considered when you think that on this weekend 12 months ago, Jurgen Klopp had just informed the world that he was ‘running out of energy’ and many wondered whether Liverpool would be capable of challenging for the title again.
But here they are, ready to face Ipswich in what will be another test of patience, and Slot is hoping the conversation will be a little more buoyant when he speaks to his Dad on Saturday evening, particularly if another three points have been accrued.
‘There have definitely not been many games where he has said: ‘Oh! I like what saw!”, Slot continued, with laughter. ‘The funny thing is he was always quite critical (when I played) so when my son is playing I am like ‘Oh! Well done! Well done!’ Maybe my son will go to being critical again!
‘I think my Dad’s favourite performance so far would be one of the ones in which we had a comfortable lead, far before the end because he is always a bit nervous. Every game for us is tight so I think it would be West Ham away or Tottenham away.
‘But since he was in the stadium against Manchester City and Real Madrid (in November) I think if you were to ask him now he would tell you those were his most special moments because he was in Anfield with my mum as well.
‘He might even know your names! He reads everything that is written!
‘He is an ambassador for his amateur club and they play in The Netherlands at a similar time to us on Saturday. He has a lot of troubles (splitting his time), so the first half he goes there and then goes home really fast so he can see our game. He is following everything like most dads do.’
There is added symbolism to the visit from Ipswich, as they were the first opponents Slot faced back in August. A comfortable 2-0 win set the team on the way to what has so far been an outstanding campaign but the question remains: how much further can Liverpool progress?
‘A friend of mine always says a nice thing,’ said Slot. ‘If you want to win a 100-metre sprint, one tenth of a second makes the difference between finishing No 1 or No 8. These are the margins we are talking about at a club like this.
‘So many things are already at the highest level, it is not so easy to gain something extra. But if you get something extra, you can end up here (he raised his hand) because the other teams are of a similar level to us. The next stage for us is even more consistency in the quality in which we win’