How Liverpool won the Premier League – featuring Dire Straits, coffee club and one big outburst

Arne Slot was seething as he made his way down from the Anfield directors’ box to the home dressing room.

The Liverpool players had grown accustomed to Slot delivering calm, articulate half-time team talks, complemented by video analysis to illustrate where they needed to improve.

This time it was different. Slot, who had been sitting in the Main Stand alongside assistant Sipke Hulshoff as they completed two-match touchline bans for the visit of rock-bottom Southampton on March 8, erupted after the door slammed shut behind him.

He delivered a stinging critique of a lifeless first-half display, berating his side’s lack of energy and intensity both with and without the ball. The response in the second half was emphatic as Liverpool turned an embarrassing 1-0 deficit into a comfortable 3-1 win.

“The reason it was so effective was because it was so out of character for Arne,” remarked one senior person at the club. “It was the angriest anyone had seen him.”

For the most part, Slot was an understated, unflappable guiding force as he surpassed all expectations in leading Liverpool to a 20th top-flight league championship, only their second since 1990; becoming just the fifth manager in the 33-year Premier League era to win the title in their debut season in English football.

And his achievement is all the more remarkable given Liverpool were supposedly facing the toughest of transitions following the departure of Jurgen Klopp last May after almost nine years as the club’s manager and figurehead.

Rather than benefit from a big statement of intent in the summer transfer market, Slot developed the talent he inherited and blew away his rivals with a 26-game unbeaten league run between September and April.

It ensured that the title race, such as it was, became a procession.

The Athletic has spoken to multiple people connected to Slot and Liverpool, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their positions, to gain insights into how the Dutchman made his own slice of history.

This is that story.

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“Kill them with passes! Move it!,” boomed Slot as he took training at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, during Liverpool’s tour of the United States in July.

The pre-season wasn’t straightforward.

Many of his star names reported back late following national-team commitments at the European Championship and Copa America but Slot knew he could not afford to waste any time in getting his ideas across.

Changes in playing style — less high-octane chaos, more possession-based control — were quickly embraced. Klopp himself had talked before his departure about how he felt the group would benefit from new voices and fresh ideas, and so it proved.

“This is now more me,” academy-graduate midfielder Curtis Jones told reporters during the tour. “The midfielders are going to be the heart of the team. In terms of our build-up, we have to be more calm and play more as a team. We’re not in a rush to attack. We want to have the ball and just break teams down. In the past, it was kind of a rush.”

“It’s an elegant, Dutch style,” forward Harvey Elliott added. “The players are really excited about certain patterns we’re playing. There’s a buzz.”

Back at the club’s training base in Kirkby, where Slot had less than two weeks working with his full squad before the Premier League opener at promoted Ipswich Town, the emphasis was on significant tweaks rather than ripping up what Klopp left behind.

From his conversations with the German, who told him he was getting the best job in the world but warned how bad the weather was in the north west of England, Slot knew there was a culture of excellence in the dressing room, with senior pros setting the example. He kept the leadership group of captain Virgil van Dijk, vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Alisson firmly intact.

There were, however, some minor changes. Slot made it compulsory for players to eat their breakfasts at Kirkby as he wanted them to start each day sitting together after reporting for work at around 9.30am.

Slot also informed them they would no longer be staying at the city’s Titanic Hotel the night before home matches, as he felt they would benefit more from sleeping at home in their own beds before meeting up the following morning.

The installation of a coffee bar just inside the players’ entrance at Kirkby proved a big hit. It had been a long-standing idea of owner Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive Michael Edwards, dating back to his tenure as Liverpool sporting director, inspired by a similar set-up at several clubs in Italy’s Serie A, including Roma.

It quickly became a place for Slot’s players to congregate and socialise both before and after training — fostering a sense of camaraderie and togetherness, not to mention a regular source of material for the club’s social media channels. Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai were soon among the regulars for popular barista Alex.

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“The main man in the house!” 😎 pic.twitter.com/tppbRKbtjd

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 8, 2024

There was a culture shock for the squad in the early months of the season, however: the sheer number of individual and team meetings they were asked to attend at Kirkby. Slot, son of two teachers, was on a mission to educate.

There was regular feedback on matches and each training session, with an attention to detail they hadn’t experienced previously. The clips used always accentuated strengths as well as highlighting where a player could get better.

The new backroom staff of Hulshoff, John Heitinga (assistant coach), Aaron Briggs (first-team individual development coach), Ruben Peeters (lead physical performance coach) and Fabian Otte (head of first-team goalkeeping coaching) quickly made a positive impression with the squad. Liverpool advertised for a set-piece coach but, unable to find a compelling external candidate, Briggs ended up taking on that added responsibility.

There was another important addition to the staff in November, with Roderick van der Ham arriving from Feyenoord, Slot’s previous club, as first-team tactical analyst. When incidents happen during matches that Slot believes need to be highlighted to his squad either at half-time or post-match, he turns and shouts “Clip!” to his analysts.

Where Klopp’s approach was all about the collective, Slot is a great believer in individual work, with Hulshoff, Heitinga and Briggs regularly tasked with overseeing one-to-one drills. It is an environment where Slot wants to be challenged and listens carefully to the input of others, but nobody is in any doubt about who is in charge.

Long days at Kirkby often end with a staff game of padel — another legacy of Klopp, who had courts installed at the complex — with Slot and Hulshoff frequently coming out on top against Heitinga and Peeters.

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With Liverpool’s entire football operations structure rebuilt, Klopp’s departure sparked the biggest overhaul of the club since the takeover by Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in 2010.

Edwards’ first job after effectively taking over from FSG president Mike Gordon as the key decision-maker was to appoint former Scotland international Richard Hughes as sporting director. David Woodfine was made assistant sporting director, with Hughes bringing Mark Burchill and Craig McKee with him from fellow Premier League side Bournemouth as senior scouts.

Hughes led the search for Klopp’s successor, and last April he arrived at a plush townhouse overlooking the canal in the Dutch city of Zwolle to meet Liverpool’s top target.

“Why me?” asked Slot. Armed with a hefty dossier packed full of data and character references, Hughes delivered a compelling case.

He spoke about the playing style that had delivered such success to Feyenoord and energised the Rotterdam club’s fanbase, how Slot had overachieved based on his available resources, and his proven track record of both developing players and keeping them fit. Hughes succeeded where Tottenham Hotspur had failed a year earlier and got his man.

“I had a very good relationship from the start with Richard, which is one of the reasons I loved to join the club,” explained Slot, whose office is next door to Hughes’ on the first floor of the Kirkby complex.

Crucially, Slot was comfortable with taking the role of head coach rather than manager, as Liverpool embarked on a new era with a more collegiate way of operating. Rather than fear the prospect of following in the footsteps of an icon in Klopp, he embraced it.

“Yeah, big shoes to fill, but you can also look at it as inheriting a squad and a team which has a winning culture,” Slot said at his unveiling in July. “I look at being a successor to someone who was successful as ideal, because there is an opportunity to win something.”

Hughes and Slot were on the same page regarding transfers. Despite the clamour outside the club for new faces, Slot was more excited about the talent already on board and convinced that significant improvement would largely come from within.

He set about reinvigorating players such as Ibrahima Konate, Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz, who had lost their way towards the end of Klopp’s reign when Liverpool’s 2023-24 title challenge wilted and they trailed home in third place.

The plan was to sign a holding midfielder and an attacker to provide extra depth. However, there was a major setback in August when Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi opted to stay put when Liverpool were prepared to pay his €60million (£51.4m, $68.2m) release clause.

With Slot wanting a technically gifted No 6 who could operate in tight spaces and pick the right pass under pressure rather than a ‘destroyer’ to break up play, there was a dearth of suitable alternatives available on the market.

Hughes and Slot were in agreement that there was no point panic buying. They were offered Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte, who subsequently joined Manchester United, but they had no interest in him.

Slot’s solution was to put his faith in Ryan Gravenberch to shine in a deeper role, having seen him perform there for Feyenoord’s Dutch rivals Ajax as a teenager. It was a decision that proved inspired as the Netherlands international flourished en route to winning the title.

The only new arrival was Federico Chiesa, who joined from Juventus at the end of the summer window for an initial fee of £10m ($13.3m). However, the Italy international struggled for both fitness and form, clocking up just 33 minutes of league action across four substitute appearances.

With the summer sales of fringe players Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg and Bobby Clark generating up to £62m, Liverpool have returned a profit on their transfer dealings across this season.

After so much upheaval off the field, stability and continuity within the squad proved invaluable as concerns about a lack of investment were dispelled.

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“Phenomenal,” was the verdict of Liverpool’s first-team fitness coach Conall Murtagh.

Salah had just leapt to the top of the leaderboard in the punishing six-minute race test at Kirkby, a drill where players have to run at maximum intensity around a large square for that amount of time.

Salah, 32, had not only returned early for pre-season but was in the shape of his life. He had benefited greatly from an extended summer break as Egypt had no major tournament commitments.

The forward had endured a difficult end to Klopp’s reign as he struggled to regain rhythm following the hamstring injury he suffered at the Africa Cup of Nations last January. He scored just twice in his final nine appearances of 2023-24 and cut a disconsolate figure.

However, early on under Slot, team-mates were struck by how happy and energised he was. Salah made headlines with the TV interview he gave after a resounding 3-0 away win against Manchester United in early September, when he declared this could be his last season at Liverpool, but there were no concerns internally.

In fact, the opposite was true — it was viewed as vindication of the direction in which the club were heading. It was the first time that Salah had indicated he wanted to stay at Anfield beyond the expiration of his contract in summer 2025.

“Before I worked with Arne, I didn’t expect he was this good, then we started working and I’m not surprised at all,” said Salah, who has provided both the dazzling firepower and the creative brilliance, being responsible for almost half of Liverpool’s goals in all competitions.

The measured way in which Slot handled all the noise over the protracted contract sagas involving free-agents-to-be Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold went down well in both the dressing room and boardroom. He did not create any unwanted headlines or unnecessary pressure with his answers to the media.

Van Dijk embraced being asked to take on more responsibility to build attacks with his distribution between the lines, while Alexander-Arnold relished the greater focus on one-to-one coaching as Slot helped improve the defensive side of his game.

Eyebrows were raised after victory over Ipswich on the season’s first Saturday, when Slot headed straight down the tunnel rather than going across to celebrate in front of the travelling supporters.

“Don’t expect me to go after the game and make fist-pumps,” he said. “That is not going to be my style.”

Authenticity was important to him and he explained that he intended to create a bond with the fanbase through his entertaining brand of football rather than gestures.

He showed his ruthless streak in that first match by replacing young centre-back Jarell Quansah with Konate at half-time after being unhappy with the lack of duels Liverpool were winning. He sat down with Quansah at Kirkby the following day and explained his logic, so no resentment lingered.

Slot can be blunt but his honesty and clear communication mean he commands respect even among those who have found their game time limited, as they always know exactly where they stand with him.

With his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation effectively becoming 4-2-4 when Liverpool pressed, the back line found themselves better protected with Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister alongside each other as either Szoboszlai or Jones operated in the more advanced midfield role. Slot also got the best out of Cody Gakpo by playing him off the left.

And results on the field quickly offered vindication for Slot’s methods. He became the first Liverpool manager since George Kay 88 years earlier to win his first away league fixture against Manchester United and the first in the club’s history to win his opening three league matches in the top flight without conceding a goal.

There were stand-out victories over the champions of Germany (Bayer Leverkusen), Spain (Real Madrid) and England (Manchester City) by a combined score of 8-0, part of a trend which saw the club’s record against the other members of England’s traditional ‘Big Six’ transformed. In 2023-24, Liverpool took just 12 points out of a possible 30 from those games: so far this season, it’s 20 out of a possible 24.

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Internally at Kirkby, November 2 is regarded as one of the season’s most pivotal dates.

On a day when Arsenal lost at Newcastle United and Manchester City were defeated away at Bournemouth, Liverpool came from behind to beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1, thanks to goals from Gakpo and Salah. Slot’s side were abject in the first half but, helped by his tactical tweaks, clever substitutions and an inspirational Anfield atmosphere, they turned it around. Victory took them top of the table, and they have remained there ever since.

“When things go against you, you have to show up. Winners always do. Fortunately, we have a lot of winners in our team,” Slot told reporters post-match. “The crowd were incredible in the second half. That’s the loudest since I’ve been here.”

The 2-0 home win over champions City in early December was extra special for Slot, given his admiration for opposite number Pep Guardiola as a coach and the fact he had proud parents Arend and Fennie, his brothers Edwin and Jakko, his wife Mirjam and their children Isa and Joep over visiting.

With the children still in full-time education in the Netherlands, Slot had made the move to England on his own, initially living in an apartment last summer before relocating to a house in the county of Cheshire, a short drive south-east from Liverpool. His evenings were frequently spent with his laptop, analysing an upcoming opponent.

Slot returned to the family base in Zwolle during the various international breaks to unwind but found the intensive stretch from November through to March challenging, with no winter break, unlike the leagues in other European nations including the Netherlands, and the schedule across four competitions relentless.

Yet on the field, there was no sign of strain. Privately, there was a growing feeling within the coaching and playing staff that the title was within their grasp. City had lurched into crisis and while Arsenal looked the most credible challengers, they also lacked consistency and firepower up front.

Belief rocketed around Christmas with Liverpool’s ruthless 6-3 demolition of Tottenham, which was swiftly followed by thrashing West Ham United 5-0. It all felt much more sustainable than a year earlier, when they had to regularly rely on energy-sapping late salvage acts to stay in the race to be champions.

There was a significant upturn in player availability, which was helped by Slot’s less intense training regime and playing style compared to the Klopp era.

Another key factor in Liverpool suffering fewer injuries is greater collaboration between their football and medical/sports science departments. Changes overseen by director of medicine and performance Jonathan Power meant Chris Morgan (head of performance physical therapy) and Lee Nobes (head of rehab physiotherapy) were handed new roles as specialists in certain fields, and empowered to make decisions.

Peeters’ focus on periodisation has helped to manage players’ workloads, and the level of detail around recovery was cranked up with wellness checks including details on sleep, diet and even bowel movements. More yoga, hydrotherapy and breathing exercises were encouraged.

Players have certainly enjoyed more time at home this season — something those with young children have been especially grateful for — with additional days off built into the schedule.

That trust has been repaid with performances.

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The new year offered up a different set of challenges.

The uncertainty growing over Alexander-Arnold’s future finally bubbled over into a concrete offer from Real Madrid, who tried to buy him for £20m in January, ahead of his contract expiring in the summer. That approach was instantly rebuffed. Edwards, Hughes and Slot were all in agreement that the value of keeping the vice-captain for the rest of the season in the pursuit of silverware would potentially be much greater than pocketing that fee halfway through it.

Interest from the Saudi Pro League in Darwin Nunez, specifically from Al Nassr, was also dismissed as they were committed to keeping the squad together for the run-in.

On the field, there was a rare defeat at Tottenham in the first leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final, although the real drama around that match came on the journey home, as thick fog and ice meant the team’s flight from London Stansted couldn’t land in Liverpool and had to be diverted to Birmingham. The plane eventually touched down around 3am, with the club having to scramble a coach and cars to transport the various members of their travelling party the final 100 miles (160km) north.

Staff arriving for work at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport at 5.30am that Thursday were surprised to see a shivering Salah in the car park, who asked for their help getting his vehicle moving in the treacherous midwinter conditions.

In February, fans saw Slot’s feistier side for themselves when he unleashed a furious tirade at referee Michael Oliver following the controversial Merseyside derby draw with Everton at Goodison Park.

FA charges were subsequently accepted, with Oliver claiming that Slot had said to him: “If we don’t win the league, I’ll f***ing blame you.” Slot was adamant he in fact said: “If we don’t win the league, I will have you to thank for that.”

Slot was sent off, along with Hulshoff, and was apologetic. “The emotions got the better of me. If I look back at that, I would love to do it differently,” he said subsequently.

It wasn’t the ideal start to a crunch run of five league games in the space of 15 days, and when the heroics of Alisson ensured they limped to a nervy home win over relegation candidates Wolves, it was the first time since Opta records began in 2003-03 that the club had played an entire half of league football at Anfield without registering a single attempt on goal.

Slot had regularly made it clear to his players that he could tolerate mistakes but what he couldn’t abide was a dip in attitude and application. That is why he took the unusual step of publicly criticising Nunez in a press conference the morning after his glaring miss had been the talking point in a 2-2 away draw with Aston Villa.

A month earlier, the Uruguayan striker had come off the bench to deliver a match-winning late cameo at Brentford when he scored twice in stoppage time. Nunez basked in the glow of being the hero that day and the squad were sat on a plane awaiting take-off at Luton Airport that evening when they heard that Arsenal had drawn 2-2 at home to Aston Villa after squandering a 2-0 lead. Suddenly, Liverpool’s lead was six points with a game in hand.

However, for Nunez it proved to be another false dawn in his stop-start Liverpool career.

“What was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance,” Slot told reporters in the wake of his display against Villa. “The most important message is you can miss a chance but you can’t miss out on work rate.”

Slot, who had also been riled by Nunez’s lack of effort in that game against Wolves, regarded Wataru Endo as the perfect example of the mindset he expected from his fringe players. Parking his frustration over a lack of game time, the veteran Japan international was always ready to make the most of the limited opportunities he was given as he became one of Slot’s trusted ‘finishers’ off the bench.

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It was one of the defining images of the season.

Liverpool had just secured their first Premier League triumph away to Manchester City for nearly a decade and an exhausted Szoboszlai was lying motionless on the turf after the final whistle, having run himself into the ground in pursuit of victory.

With Arsenal suffering a surprise defeat by West Ham 24 hours earlier, Liverpool had moved 11 points clear, and the away end at the Etihad Stadium decided the race was run as they delivered the first booming rendition of “We’re gonna win the league.”

The City match was a tactical masterclass from Slot, who played without a recognised striker and utilised Szoboszlai and Jones as two No 10s. Liverpool had just 34 per cent possession — their lowest in a league win since Opta’s records began — but were always in control. The Anfield hierarchy held that up as the perfect example of Slot’s acumen as a coach, with the game plan he and his staff came up with being carried out to perfection.

Slot’s phone buzzed with a congratulatory message from Klopp about Liverpool’s performance with the duo staying in regular contact throughout the season. Slot made it clear to Klopp that he had an open invitation to attend games, but the German coach decided he wouldn’t return to Anfield until after the title had been won.

Slot’s demands on his players have been significant but he has also known when to back off.

After Liverpool endured their most trying week of the season in March, exiting the Champions League on penalties to a vibrant Paris Saint-Germain and then watching Newcastle United lift the Carabao Cup following the club’s worst performance in a major final this century, he decided rest and recuperation were the best responses.

Rather than get the squad back together at the earliest possible opportunity after the conclusion of the ensuing international window, Slot decided to give them a few extra days off to rest and reset ahead of the run-in.

When they did reconvene, there was a frank team meeting at Kirkby ahead of the home game with Everton when the head coach showed the players a selection of positive clips from previous matches that he felt illustrated the high standards which had slipped against Newcastle at Wembley. He told them: “You must never accept being outworked as a team.”

The warning was heeded, as Diogo Jota broke his three-month goal drought to settle that Merseyside derby.

Their 26-game unbeaten league run was ended four days later at Fulham, but Liverpool were so far clear, it mattered little. The news of Salah and Van Dijk signing two-year contract extensions fuelled the feel-good factor as Liverpool fans prepared for their biggest title party in 35 years, the celebrations of their win in 2020 having been muffled by restrictions relating to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Within the squad, morale has been rock-solid.

Van Dijk, who organised a team bonding night out at plush Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Pirana in the affluent Mayfair area of London, is in charge of the music playlist in the dressing room… with contributions from team-mates.

One unlikely anthem in Liverpool’s march to the title has been Sultans of Swing by British rock band Dire Straits, which has regularly blared out of the dressing room after cherished wins. Alisson is a big Dire Straits fan and another of their tracks, Walk of Life, has also become a firm favourite.

It speaks to a squad and staff in perfect synchronisation — a group who have been able to block off the outside noise and get on with the task of winning matches with polished efficiency. Ultimately, nobody in the Premier League has come close to challenging them for consistency.

Players and staff gathered together at the club’s Kirkby training base on Wednesday night to watch Arsenal’s game against Crystal Palace in case their title triumph was confirmed. Nobody was disappointed about the champagne remaining on ice as they wanted to clinch it on home turf, which they duly did with a 5-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur.

The scale of this achievement cannot be played down.

Few gave Liverpool a prayer before a ball was kicked in August. Most pundits agreed another top-four finish would represent success after waving goodbye to the club’s most transformative manager since Bill Shankly.

But the appointment of Slot proved inspired.

He is the football obsessive who has landed the biggest of prizes at the first attempt to get a new era at Anfield off to a triumphant start.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

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