As we head into the first International break of the season, what can be made of Arne Slot and Liverpool so far and how he has adjusted to early life in England?

The Dutchman’s Reds have taken maximum points from their first 3 league games, beating newly promoted Ipswich as well as Brentford and arch rivals Man Utd. They have scored 7 and are the only side in England’s top 4 divisions to not concede a single goal!

The Liverpool side Slot inherited does feel very familiar and that’s because despite the new addition of Federico Chiesa from Juventus for around £10m, the Liverpool squad for the first 3 games has been unchanged leaving Slot to work with the existing crop from last season.

Thus far, Slot has managed to get some of his ideas across to his players as demonstrated in the way in which Liverpool look more controlled and measured in games and as a result goalkeeper Alisson has had significantly less to do. This is reinforced by the fact that the Reds have the 3rd lowest xG conceded p90 (the least prior to their match against Man Utd) albeit a small sample size (3 games in) but encouraging nonetheless.

In each of his first three league games the Dutchman has been insistent on work rate and winning individual duels as the fundamentals for winning a game. In his Ipswich post-match interview on TNT Sports, Slot revealed at the break he told his players “We don’t have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels” and the reason why Ibrahima Konate was brought on for Jarell Quansah, suggesting the former Feyenoord coach isn’t afraid to make big decisions.

It’s important to note that the directness which has made Liverpool so successful going forwards in Jurgen Klopp’s nine years at Anfield, has been reinstated and gives the Reds an extra dimension to their game.

The real test comes once the Reds arrive back from this international break as the UEFA Champions League kick starts and the congestive period of fixtures takes place which sees Liverpool face the likes of Arsenal, Brighton, Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Man City all in the space of a month!

Big obstacles lie ahead for Arne Slot’s Liverpool but so far, a promising start to life in the Premier League.