Arne Slot has recently discovered all about the one thing Jurgen Klopp “hated” most about his time at Anfield – international breaks.
Slot expressed his preference to get straight back into action following Liverpool’s heartbreaking Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United, rather than waiting for the international break to end.
Newcastle, under Eddie Howe, celebrated their long-awaited 2-1 victory at Wembley, ending a 70-year trophy drought. For Liverpool, it was a painful defeat, leaving Slot and his staff with two weeks of downtime during the international break. However, Slot doesn’t view the break as entirely beneficial, as Liverpool won’t play again until hosting Merseyside rivals Everton on April 2.
Asked whether the hiatus came at the perfect time for the Reds, the Dutchman said: “We are one of the biggest clubs in the world, Liverpool, but it’s not for the first time in their history, or in the last two seasons, that they’ve lost two games in a row.
“This is part of playing football, especially if one of them is when you face the best team in Europe at the moment, and the other one is facing Newcastle, which is a very strong team in England.
“So I would have loved to play next week, but now the situation is that they go to the national teams, where they have to play two more games again, and then it’s probably one-and-a-half weeks before we face Everton, which is again a team we already faced, and we know how difficult that one was.”
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Klopp was also vocal about his opinion on the international break during his time on Merseyside. “I hate international breaks. Absolutely. It wasn’t helpful” said the German boss in 2021.
“It didn’t help from an injury point of view. If we had played a week later [after West Ham ] our players would have had two days off. With the international days they train pretty much through all this because the coaches have their own targets and they think they have to do physical work with them as well.”
Liverpool.com says: Arne Slot’s preference for immediate action over the international break reveals his urgency and desire to quickly move past Liverpool’s Carabao Cup loss. Klopp, too, has previously expressed frustration with breaks disrupting team momentum. Both managers value continuous play to maintain focus and rhythm, suggesting that long gaps can halt progress. While breaks offer rest, Slot and Klopp’s views highlight a common challenge in balancing recovery with competitive flow.
