Sloot: I Wasn’t a Standout Player, Perhaps This Made Me a Better Coach

Liverpool manager Sloot recently spoke about his transition from player to coach and mentioned that Guardiola’s Barcelona was a significant inspiration to him.

When talking about his coaching career, Sloot said, “If you ask my father, he would say that I am completely different as a coach compared to when I was a player. I often joke about how I wasn’t very fast, which is why everyone used to call me Slo (slow), but this may have helped improve my game insight.”

“I needed to make good use of teamwork because I couldn’t dribble past three players myself. I always had to rely on my teammates, using passes to create threats. I needed to think more during games, which perhaps helps with my current coaching. At that age, I often thought that if my teammate handled the ball in a certain way, they might lose it; whereas if I handled it differently, it might succeed. As my career progressed, my understanding of various situations became clearer.”

“Fortunately, Barcelona began their era at that time, and I saw similarities between their approach and ours. I’m not saying we played like them, but sometimes I noticed that we could play that kind of football occasionally, while Barcelona consistently did so—this approach brought success, which helped shape my philosophy of football.”

“I saw such a successful head coach who could maintain the same style of play every day and achieve success through this method. For one team, success means winning the league title; for another, it means maintaining the status quo. However, striving to improve individual performance and combining it with teamwork always brings success, that’s my view.”

“Working at a club like Liverpool, I can’t say they are expected to win the championship every year, but over the past nine years, they’ve won many titles under Jurgen’s leadership and maintained the same tactical style. Therefore, when working here, your goal is always to win the championship, which isn’t easy because you’re competing against many excellent teams. But that’s also a good thing; if winning were easy, you wouldn’t gain as much recognition when you do win.”