FeatureArne Slot: The meticulous head coach who won the Premier League in his own way

So, allow some of those players to describe the impact of the head coach in his first season at the helm, one that has delivered the Premier League title.

Virgil van Dijk declared it a "perfect match" between the team and its humble boss.

Trent Alexander-Arnold labelled his tactics as "mind-blowing". Luis Diaz said the coaching is "spectacular".

He leaves "no stone unturned" according to Andy Robertson and Jarell Quansah loves how "adaptable" he is.

Slot has Curtis Jones playing with "a smile on my face", Dominik Szoboszlai believing his game has improved "a lot" and Conor Bradley hailing the "unbelievable" influence he has had.

We can go on and on.

Alexis Mac Allister, meanwhile, candidly admitted "no-one expected us to be in this position".

But the new man in charge did.

The Reds' pursuit of their 20th league title began with a team meeting in Pittsburgh on the first stop of their USA pre-season tour last summer.

That was when Slot set the focus on success, rather than transition, for the campaign ahead.

"He basically said, 'We finished third last season but we now want to finish above the other two,'" Robertson recalled.

Consider that objective officially accomplished.

• Shop LFC Retail's champions range at our online store, the LFC Store app and all club stores

Slot is just the fourth boss in Liverpool's history to win the league in their first season in charge. He joins Joe Fagan, Sir Kenny Dalglish and Matt McQueen in that exclusive club.

In the Premier League era, he is the fifth coach to lift the trophy immediately – following on from Jose Mourinho (2004-05), Carlo Ancelotti (2009-10), Manuel Pellegrini (2013-14) and Antonio Conte (2016-17).

Replacing Jürgen Klopp was the tallest of orders – and he knew it – but it was a chance he could not pass up.

"An opportunity to become a head coach in the Premier League, at one of the biggest clubs in the world, is difficult to ignore," Slot told supporters of previous club Feyenoord.

Since Slot's appointment at Liverpool was announced on May 20, 2024, that is perhaps the only occasion he has allowed himself to enjoy the rise of his own coaching career.

From then on, it was all about working to win for the Dutchman.

His preparations for the job did not just include watching and analysing Liverpool's matches from the past season but also the training sessions laid on by the departing coaching staff.

He explained his daily routine to former teammate Sander Westerveld: "My family stayed in Holland. That means that if I'm here, actually 99 per cent of my time is just working. Go home, eat, take the computer out, watch the training session back, prepare for the meeting in the weekend."

Upon his arrival on Merseyside, Slot spoke of his similarities to Klopp tactically but differences as a person.

He understood, however, that buy-in to his regime would be earned more easily by guiding the Reds to victories.

His team became a juggernaut that overcame pretty much every hurdle in its way, with the help of subtle, not massive, changes made by the new head coach.

A Liverpool more in control of matches possess the second-best defensive record in the Premier League but are also the division's top scorers by some distance.

Mohamed Salah has produced one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of the English game from a specially crafted right-wing position.

"We have good communication, we discuss almost everything he wants me to improve and he wants from me," the No.11 said of Slot after extending his Reds contract earlier this month.

"And also if I feel there's something in doubt, I go and speak to him. That's a great asset to have also as a manager."

Diaz and Cody Gakpo have each returned the best goalscoring tallies of their Reds careers, having had their attacking roles adapted.

And Ryan Gravenberch has been a revelation as a defensive midfielder since being sat down in pre-season and told his skillset would be suited there.

The individual and collective results speak for themselves.

Liverpool sealed first place in the Premier League after 25 wins, seven draws and only two defeats.

It appeared as if Slot took personal offence to the loss to Nottingham Forest at Anfield in the middle of September. There would not be another defeat in the league for seven months.

The 46-year-old brought up that 1-0 reversal so often in press conferences that even he became aware of it.

"I know the Forest fans are going to like me saying this again," he said to reporters at the end of February, some 165 days after that rare blot on the fixture list.

For someone with a different personality to Klopp, Slot's dealings with the media – six times a week for the most part of a season – are also hugely insightful and entertaining in his own manner.

There tends to be a quip that produces laughs in the room, detailed answers breaking down tactics, and intelligent outlooks on the wider game.

You struggle to disagree with anything he has said at the end of those sessions.

Most importantly when communicating publicly, however, Slot has shown he is well in-tune with supporter sentiment.

While stressing the need for his players to remain focused on the tasks at hand, he knew there was no requirement for those in the stands to do so.

"We do not just want you to dream, we need you to dream," Slot wrote to fans in one of his captivating columns in the matchday programme.

He also truly appreciates the effort that goes in to making Anfield a venue that allows his players to flourish.

When forced to watch from the stands while serving a touchline ban, Slot joked about starting chants with the viral six-year-old supporter Isaac Kearney. "They are really creative in these songs," he said.

His payback for that support is forcing a change on the Champions Walls around club premises – the one most craved – and giving Anfield its first raising of the league title with supporters in attendance for 35 years.

Like his predecessor and many before him, Slot has made the people happy – and he wants to continue doing so.

"Every manager around the world wants to achieve perfection and that will probably never work out," he said on the cusp of the title being secured.

"But even in the last few weeks we are still trying to get better in certain things and keeping the standards as high as we had them for the whole season.

"Maybe in some parts of the season or in phases of some games we were quite close [to his vision for the team] but in other moments we have to do much better. We can definitely improve."