Arne Slot is about to face into the unknown as Liverpool head coach as, for the first time in his managerial career, he gears up for a heavy fixture schedule over Christmas.
The 46-year-old has been accustomed to some time off over the festive period due to the Eredivise (like most European leagues) having a mid-season break at that time of year. As we all know, though, it’s rather different in the Premier League, where the football calendar is stockpiled with matches.
The Reds’ home clash against Fulham on Saturday is the first of five games they’ll play in 15 days, including three in an eight-day period either side of Santa Claus’ delivery of presents on 25 December.
Far from bemoaning the festive fixture schedule, though, Slot took the opposite stance and pointed out it can be ‘a good thing’ for high-flying Liverpool.
In his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, he said (via liverpoolfc.com): “I was always happy that in the Premier League the teams played because, when I was off, you were always like, ‘Oh, there is no football on television,’ but there was because in the Premier League they play. I was always very happy that in the Premier League they played.
“Now, when you are in this league you sometimes feel, ‘OK, a few days, a few weeks off would be…’ – maybe not good for me because I had my days off during the international breaks when the national teams played.
“For the players it’s definitely beneficial to have one or two weeks off, but it is not the situation. Before we played Girona we had to play Everton, and when that game was cancelled, I was like, ‘OK, maybe that’s a good thing, maybe we will have more energy now to play in Girona.’
“It was a bit of a surprise for me to see us not having that energy in Girona as we usually have, so maybe it is a good thing for us that we play so many games. Actually, I am looking forward to it.”
Liverpool have had a busier fixture schedule than most Premier League clubs so far this season due to their European commitments and ongoing Carabao Cup involvement, although the postponement of the Merseyside derby brought about an unexpected six-day break between the matches against Newcastle and Girona.
However, Slot seems to think that the Everton game being called off had the opposite effect of breaking his team’s momentum and perhaps contributing to a sluggish first-half display in Catalonia on Tuesday, one which had him venting afterwards despite the Reds winning.
This season’s festive fixture load isn’t actually as jam-packed as in previous years – once we finish the game against West Ham on 29 December, we don’t play again for seven days until Manchester United’s visit to Anfield.
If anything, the likely prospect of eight games in 25 days in January (assuming we get past Southampton in the Carabao Cup next week) could be more of a slog for Liverpool, who must now be quite grateful to have their last-16 berth in the Champions League effectively sewn up already.
Slot will see our four remaining Premier League games in 2024 as an opportunity to collect 12 more points and extend our lead at the summit, rather than being perturbed by his first experience of the busy Christmas period in English football.
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