6 things Arne Slot will learn from watching Liverpool beat Spurs including Mo Salah decision

LIVERPOOL 4-2 TOTTENHAM: Mo Salah, Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott were all on the scoresheet as the Reds won on Jurgen Klopp’s penultimate home game in charge.

He won’t have watched it live because he’ll have been preparing for his Feyenoord side’s game with PEC Zwolle on Sunday evening, but when he gets round to watching Liverpool ’s clash with Tottenham on Sunday then Arne Slot will have plenty to take note of.

The Reds were terrific for the first hour of the contest as goals from Mo Salah, Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott saw them race into a 4-0 lead, before an attempted Spurs fightback which saw goals from Richarlison and Heung-min Son.

But what will Slot have learned from his soon to be new side? We’ve taken a look.

You’d be daft to sell Mo Salah

Tottenham had started the brighter of the two sides and were looking the most comfortable in possession, but all it took was one Trent Alexander-Arnold spring down the right for Salah and Liverpool suddenly remembered who they were.

In a flash Salah was clipping a cross against the bar and then firing a shot at Guglielmo Vicario after Elliott had robbed Pape Sarr. He’d livened up his side and the crowd with his mere presence, and you can’t buy quality like that. The Saudis couldn’t last summer anyway.

The goal seemed inevitable for a few minutes before it came, with the simplicity of it striking, but it had all stemmed from Salah upping the tempo.

So many web pages and column inches were taken up by the fallout from a brief spat he had with his manager of the last seven years last week, but it is by no means the end of a cycle for one of the very best players in the world. Slot should feel blessed to be walking into a club with such a talent, and there is at least one more chapter to be written.

There’s a player in Cody Gakpo

Maybe it is a simple conclusion to draw given their nationalities, but it does promise to be fascinating to see what Slot does with Gakpo when he arrives in the summer. Because there is a player there waiting to blossom.

Fast, strong, big, able to wriggle away from defenders, there really isn’t much that he can’t do. He can head it as well, as his goal early in the second half showed.

The only real issue with him is how often he does those things, and you sense that he just needs to believe in himself a little more in order to make it happen for himself.

He should have gained confidence from keeping Darwin Nunez out of the side though, a Klopp decision which has been entirely justified, and he should go into a new regime with a spring in his step.

There’s a player in Cody Gakpo

Maybe it is a simple conclusion to draw given their nationalities, but it does promise to be fascinating to see what Slot does with Gakpo when he arrives in the summer. Because there is a player there waiting to blossom.

Fast, strong, big, able to wriggle away from defenders, there really isn’t much that he can’t do. He can head it as well, as his goal early in the second half showed.

The only real issue with him is how often he does those things, and you sense that he just needs to believe in himself a little more in order to make it happen for himself.

He should have gained confidence from keeping Darwin Nunez out of the side though, a Klopp decision which has been entirely justified, and he should go into a new regime with a spring in his step.

Harvey Elliott needs room to blossom

He’s been one of the players of Liverpool’s season, but you’re never quite sure whether or not Elliott will even play. Bright, creative and always tuned in to the rhythm of the game, he’s been a valuable substitute throughout the campaign and often makes game-changing contributions, but nobody wants to be a sub forever.

It remains to be seen what system Slot will choose to play at Liverpool – remember Klopp played a 4-2-3-1 at Dortmund – but he’ll need to find a spot for Elliott within it in order to ride the crest of his emerging talents.

The very fact that he is so in and out of the team, plus his tender age – he only turned 21 last month – means that full England honours haven’t quite arrived yet ahead of the summer, but when you look at the lazy contribution of Tottenham sub James Maddison you begin to think they won’t be far off.

There’s a perfect template in place

Has a manager ever left a squad behind in better shape than this one? That was what Klopp said he was desperate to do when he announced that we was leaving, and if anything that could prove to be somewhat intimidating for Slot. Surely he can’t mess this up?

The template is there for the Dutchman to follow, and everything we know about his style of football means he’d have appreciated the pressing and hard running that was on show here from his new side during what turned in to a relentless display either side of half-time.

These are players who know how to play the way that Slot wants them to, even if they are still rather rough around the edges as as their second half slackness showed.

He’s been one of the players of Liverpool’s season, but you’re never quite sure whether or not Elliott will even play. Bright, creative and always tuned in to the rhythm of the game, he’s been a valuable substitute throughout the campaign and often makes game-changing contributions, but nobody wants to be a sub forever.

It remains to be seen what system Slot will choose to play at Liverpool – remember Klopp played a 4-2-3-1 at Dortmund – but he’ll need to find a spot for Elliott within it in order to ride the crest of his emerging talents.

The very fact that he is so in and out of the team, plus his tender age – he only turned 21 last month – means that full England honours haven’t quite arrived yet ahead of the summer, but when you look at the lazy contribution of Tottenham sub James Maddison you begin to think they won’t be far off.

There’s a perfect template in place

Has a manager ever left a squad behind in better shape than this one? That was what Klopp said he was desperate to do when he announced that we was leaving, and if anything that could prove to be somewhat intimidating for Slot. Surely he can’t mess this up?

The template is there for the Dutchman to follow, and everything we know about his style of football means he’d have appreciated the pressing and hard running that was on show here from his new side during what turned in to a relentless display either side of half-time.

These are players who know how to play the way that Slot wants them to, even if they are still rather rough around the edges as as their second half slackness showed.

You need to get them to toughen up

It was a win, and Liverpool’s fine football for the vast majority of the game shouldn’t be forgotten about because of their messy ending, but their tendency to get embroiled in hot house games is something that Slot is going to have two get rid of if he wants to taste success with his new side.

At their best under Klopp Liverpool would often not give teams a sniff as they dominated the game and restricted them to very few chances, but now they don’t just give them sniffs they give them huge gulps of air. That level of encouraging the opposition has to stop.