Arne Slot pointed to the “elite mentality” of veteran rock ‘n‘ roll star Bruce Springsteen as inspiration for his Liverpool squad as they try to find the motivation to win a second successive Premier League title.
Liverpool romped to top-flight glory during the Dutchman’s first season in English football, toppling a glut of records while winning 18 of his first 20 games across all competitions. Despite a minor wobble over the new year, the Reds didn’t relinquish top spot once in the wake of a 2–1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on the opening weekend of November.
After celebrating a record-equalling 20th title, Slot’s focus quickly turned towards defending their crown. The last Liverpool manager to win the league in consecutive seasons was Bob Paisley more than 40 years ago. By way of inspiration, Slot highlighted a figure whose own success extends beyond even Paisley’s era.
“You talk about elite mentality,” Slot gushed when discussing Springsteen, who he saw in concert earlier this week. “This guy’s been doing it for 50-odd years and he’s still putting on three-hour shows in front of 25,000 people. I’ve heard how he does this, what he does in his daily life, talking about habits, how disciplined he is to achieve this. Springsteen, at 75, is still able to do three hours on stage without even one minute of rest. He took three or four drinks of what I assume was water.”
Beyond buying Springsteen’s greatest hits, Liverpool are expected to strengthen their squad this summer as they go in search of just their third title of the Premier League era, with deals for the Bayer Leverkusen duo of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong thought to be advanced. Yet, Slot was keen to focus on honing the talent he already has available.
“One of the reasons why you play at a club like Liverpool is because you have elite mentality, and you have the mentality of a serial winner,” Slot outlined. “But sometimes as a manager you have to help them a little bit to inspire them, or to be hard on them, or to compliment them.
“I’ve seen this already with Mo Salah, I always give him as an example, because last season he was number one when we had this [fitness] test in the league and that told me a lot. That’s why he’s for seven years already at elite level. And if you look at all the elite players in all different sports, they all say the same. If you want to be a serial winner, it’s just about consistency in your discipline throughout your whole career or your whole life.
“Last season many of my players, and myself, hadn’t won the league in England. A few of them only had—now they’ve all won it. Now let’s see how they react.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arne Slot Instructs Liverpool to Emulate Rock Legend Bruce Springsteen.