Everyone in Eindhoven wants to have a chat with Liverpool coach Arne Slot

Around 7.30 pm Tuesday evening a van stops at the main entrance of the Philips Stadium. Two men in Liverpool FC-Outfit get out. For one, the former PSV player Cody Gakpo born in Eindhoven, it feels like coming home. In a snack bar in the stadium there is still a ‘Gakpo sandwich’ on the menu, with marinated chicken, bacon, cooked egg and mayonnaise. For the other, Liverpool coach Arne Slot, it is his first reunion with a Dutch club since his switch from Feyenoord last summer.

A little later they are in a black office chair in front of a room full of cameras and journalists. The Liverpool selection landed half an hour earlier with an Airbus A320 on Eindhoven Airport. In a promising season, the team is on its way to match number 35, on Wednesday evening against PSV in the Champions League. Liverpool is a leader in the Premier League, leader in the Champions League and still active in two national cup tournaments.

The arrival of the stars of Liverpool FC, seen by PSV coach Peter Bosz as “the best team in the world of the moment”, is something that is being bored in Eindhoven. A group of boys looks from behind a fence with wide eyes at the bright red player bus – with it ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone‘In white capital – which parks in the afternoon on the Frederiklaan. Then without players, only things are unloaded. The team still trained in Liverpool during the day.

The hope was that they would be shown on Wednesday – the star players. But almost all basic forces receive peace, including top scorer Mo Salah, captain Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Ryan Gravenberch. Gakpo wanted to come along, because he plays against his old club.

Bournemouth-Out more important

In the eighth and final group duel of the Champions League there is almost nothing at stake for Liverpool. Because it won all competitions, it is already certain of placement for the eighth finals. Whether they are the first or second in the group stage, does not matter according to Slot. Bournemouth-Uit, coming Saturday, is much more important for the title fight in the Premier League. “I am now looking at that competition with obliquely,” says Slot.

His selection for the PSV game consists mainly of reserves and youth talents. It is no more than a refined practice game in a long, tough season for Liverpool. Earlier in the day, the American PSV striker Ricardo Pepi (at that time not yet familiar with the many absent at Liverpool) spoke about the attraction of the competition. “As a child you dream of playing against these kinds of teams,” said Pepi, who starts in the base on Wednesday. “We want to show the world how good we are.” PSV is almost certain of the interim round, but to exclude any risk, Bosz wants to draw at least.

With lock he finds a confidence of progressive, attacking football. Last season the four confrontations between the PSV of Bosz and the Feyenoord of Slot Beautiful, intense competitions were. Bosz, once slot, won twice, once it became the same. So yes, he managed to crack the Code of Slot, Bosz says when asked. Then carefully: “Now that must be apparent.”

He sees similarities in the playing method of this Liverpool and the Feyenoord of last season. In the field occupation, in tactical variants of the attack structure, in the role of the ‘co -playing’ keeper and in how Slot wants to create a surge in midfield. “Whether that is the striker he lets sag or the right back that becomes the fourth midfielder. You really see his hand. ”

Bosz knows how difficult it is to find your way as a new coach in a foreign competition. During his first job at a European top club, Borussia Dortmund, he was quickly fired after poor results. “You have to be there right away, there must be performance immediately,” says Bosz about his countryman. “That’s what he does. Unprecedented. “

Popularity

The success drives the global popularity of Liverpool. Recently turned out From research From market researcher Nielsen that Liverpool is the best viewed Premier League club worldwide this season (on TV). There is a run on competition tickets. A non-public member quickly pays hundreds of pounds for a home duel. In the Netherlands there is also a lot of demand for tickets, says Kim Olthof, chairman of the Dutch fan club of Liverpool FC (320 members). They receive dozens of requests per month, but are assigned only fifty tickets per season as an official fan club.

Olthof, receptionist in daily life, hopes to meet these days Slot and his Dutch staff members Sipke Hulshoff and John Heitinga. She says she is “die-hard“Liverpool fan since she was ninth. Her wedding is planned in Stadium Anfield in May, after she already made a proposal to the club’s training complex in 2023. Slots predecessor Jürgen Klopp and his assistant Pepijn Lijnders arranged this for her.

Although she does not have a ticket for PSV-Liverpool, Olthof will stay in Eindhoven on Tuesday and Wednesday. With other Liverpool fans in the Irish pub in the city center, they will watch the game. And the meeting with lock? On Tuesday evening it was not possible to chat at the airport. Olthof: “We’re going to see if we can have a drink in the players hotel.”