Arne Slot will make his first competitive appearance at Anfield as Liverpool manager on Sunday when his side host Brentford, but he has insisted he is not nervous about making his mark on the hallowed ground.
Liverpool kicked off the Slot era in style with a 2-0 win at Ipswich Town last weekend, their first competitive game without Jürgen Klopp in charge in nine years, and the Dutchman knows he has big shoes to fill in replacing the much-loved Klopp.
“I hope the fans can make twice as much noise as the Ipswich fans. I'm not nervous at all, certainly not at the moment because I'm in the middle of preparation, preparing the team for Sunday and I'm not nervous,” Slot said at a news conference on Friday.
“It wouldn't be good for anyone to get nervous. I trust in what I and my team are doing to prepare the team in the best possible way.”
Slot added that he still has a lot to learn about his team despite a productive preseason.
“I'm learning every day about the players as individuals and how they play together,” Slot said.
“Last weekend I learned that the players who didn't play on Saturday trained well on Sunday. They had a good training session. That will help them and us. I'm still learning new things with the players. It's normal, I've only been working with them for three weeks.”
Slot expects a tough challenge from Brentford, particularly after having signed Liverpool defenders Sepp van den Berg and Fábio Carvalho.
“I think they brought in talented and good players. Both wanted to continue their trajectory of playing time. It was a good deal for us and for Brentford,” said Slot. “I hope it doesn't go too well for them.” [against Liverpool].
“[Brentford coach manager] Thomas Frank is doing a great job. It will be a challenge for us.”
Brentford started their campaign with a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
