Just the mere mention of the international break was enough to raise the blood pressure of Jurgen Klopp. For his successor Arne Slot, however, the pause for national duty is having the exact opposite effect.
Not that the Liverpool boss hasn’t had reason to bemoan international commitments of his players during the early months of his Anfield tenure.
Harvey Elliott, while having last week resumed full training when working with the under-21s at Kirkby, has still not featured for the first team since fracturing his foot when with England under-21s more than two months ago.
And the sole defeat of the season at home to Nottingham Forest came immediately after the September internationals from which a number of his players appeared jaded.
Slot, though, has instead preferred to concentrate on the positives, earlier this campaign highlighting the value of some of Liverpool’s fringe players gaining much-needed minutes with their respective countries.
Rather than spending his time crossing his fingers and hoping his players avoid serious injury, the Reds head coach has good reason for making the most of the international break.
“My family has stayed in Holland,” explains Slot. “That means that if I’m here, actually 99% of my time is just working. Maybe occasionally play a game of padel with my staff members, so still Liverpool involved!
“Go home, eat, take the computer out, watch the training session back, prepare for the meeting in the weekend. So if there’s a day off, it’s always a bit like ‘Hmm, I would have preferred to have a training session!’.
“The question is if you are becoming better like this because you can also do too much. But for now it works for me. We play many games, family comes over once in a while.”
Speaking on LFC TV to former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld – who Slot played alongside at Sparta Rotterdam – the Reds boss adds: “We have our international breaks, and the good thing then is that your quality time with your children and with your wife, if you are together, increases.
“Nobody has to feel sorry for me. As the Liverpool manager, don’t feel sorry for me at all! But private life is different, but still acceptable. And I can even say it’s still good.
“I can switch off really well during those breaks. I think I need it as well, because I put so much effort in during the weeks when we are playing that, these seven or eight days, I completely switch off.”
