Liverpool [UK], May 10 : Liverpool's star winger, Mohamed Salah, acknowledged that he was taken by "surprise" by the impact made by manager Arne Slot in his maiden Premier League season.
Jurgen Klopp left a huge void to fill after he ended his eight-and-a-half-year tenure with Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season. Slot arrived from Feyenoord last summer and left the world of football gobsmacked as Liverpool dazzled in his maiden season in England's top-flight football.
With the Dutchman in charge, Liverpool lifted the Premier League title in Slot's first season after they decimated Tottenham Hotspur with a 5-1 victory at the end of April.
"I didn't expect us to win so quickly. Who could have predicted that the transition would be successful so quickly? No one, I think. In preseason, Arne came to see me and asked me to be an example for the other players," Salah said, as quoted from ESPN.
"I told him not to worry because I'm always at my best, not to set an example, but because that's who I am. He told me what he expected of me in the game, with a lot of responsibilities in running, which I liked," he added.
Salah was Liverpool's premier figure on the attacking front. He has racked up 28 goals and leads the race for the Premier League Golden Boot winner. The Egyptian forward, who has played under Klopp and Slot, highlighted the difference between the Dutchman and his predecessor.
"Arne is very direct, he re-established the competitive level, whereas, with Jurgen, we were perhaps a little too much in our comfort zone towards the end," he said.
"Arne and his staff are more open to discussion, to sharing feelings, I think that was important in my performances. And, above all, it led us to success," he added.
Liverpool's next Premier League fixture will be against the second-placed Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
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