Liverpool get their season up and running on Saturday with a visit to Ipswich Town at lunchtime.
It is the start of a new beginning for the Reds ,with Arne Slot primed to take charge of his first ever competitive game for the club.
It won’t be an easy game for Slot, with the feel-good factor of consecutive promotions yet to be dampened at Ipswich. Liverpool will have to be careful.
Ahead of his first Premier League outing, the new Reds head coach spoke to the media about what he expects to see.
And with the spectre of Jurgen Klopp still floating around at the AXA Training Centre, Slot paid one last homage to the man who preceded him before the action gets underway.
Arne Slot makes Jurgen Klopp point
Slot has so far handled things really well when asked about Klopp. Inevitably, the Dutchman has had to speak numerous times about the Liverpool legend already.
Far from letting it annoy him, though, Slot has tackled every question about Klopp with grace and respect.
On Friday, the German was not brought up by reporters during the boss’ pre-match press conference.
However, Slot still made sure to mention Jurgen when it was put to him why Liverpool had still not dipped into the summer transfer market this year.
“I think at this moment the whole team stayed together,” he said. “We lost Joel Matip, Thiago and Adrian of course.
“But the rest of the team stayed together and that’s also a very positive thing.
“We’re always talking here about transfers but it’s also a very positive thing that we kept our players,” Slot added. “They are in a good place at the moment.
“I said many times already that Jurgen left the team in a very good place and we’re trying to build from there. Last season they won a trophy with this team so we’re hoping and aiming for the same this season.”
Will Liverpool make signings?
It stands to reason that Slot is praising the level of squad Klopp has left behind. Having decided not to add to it so far, the coach is obviously pleased with what he has inherited.
Nevertheless, Arne did also confirm that sporting director Richard Hughes is still looking for ways to strengthen the team in the transfer market.
“Me and Richard are trying to strengthen the squad and if we think we’ve found someone we try to bring him in,” he said.
“In the background Richard is still trying to improve the team but at the moment my full focus is on Ipswich.”
The group is strong at the moment, that much is clear. But it did not have enough to go the distance in 2023/24 and without anything added to it, it’s hard to see how it improves on that this time.