Arne Slot believes USA Tour will have massive benefits for Liverpool

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot anticipates a huge step-up in the team's pre-season intensity as the side heads to the United States for their forthcoming tour this week.

“I assume this, but the resistance of the teams we play is strong,” Slot told the official website prior to the Reds jetting off across the Atlantic for a series of top-quality fixtures.

The tour kicks off against La Liga side Real Betis. The match, which takes place on Saturday 27 July at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh and kicking off at 00:30 in the UK, will be followed by a clash with Arsenal on Thursday 1 August at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, again at 00:30 UK time.

The tour then concludes with a match against old rivals Manchester United on Sunday 4 August at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia (00:45 UK time).

A dual focus

The Dutchman, now two weeks into his first pre-season with the Reds, believes that the combination of high-calibre friendly matches and additional training sessions will be instrumental in readying the squad for the upcoming season.

“We are trying to implement the ideas and keep doing what we have done so well. Keeping the boys fit, that’s the first aim,” he said.

Slot then emphasised the dual focus on maintaining player fitness and integrating returning squad members to enhance the team's quality.

“Those things are the first aim and then with all the players coming back I think the quality will definitely go up a lot as well and these two things – training sessions and boys coming back in – will help us to play even better than we did [on Friday],” he explained.

Positives from the Preston loss

These comments followed Liverpool's 1-0 defeat in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Preston North End at the AXA Training Centre. Despite the loss, Slot noted the positive strides made by his players during the initial stages of pre-season.

“It’s only two weeks in so if it was that easy to bring and to implement all your ideas in two weeks, that would have been an ideal situation but it doesn’t work like this!” Slot admitted.

“Like I said, the ones who came in from the start, they are still fit now, they have had two weeks of training sessions and stayed fit during the game so are getting fitter and fitter.”

While there are several areas needing improvement, Slot believes the team’s progress is evident and will continue with more training sessions.

“But yeah, there are definitely more than a few areas where we have to improve but that will come with more sessions and it will definitely come when all the boys are in.”