Harvey Elliott Likens Arne Slot's Tactics To 'Actors Learning Lines'

Despite not having many minutes this season, Harvey Elliott has said he is determined to fight for any opportunity that comes his way under new Head Coach, Arne Slot.

Harvey Elliott of Liverpool arrives at the stadium wearing beats headphones during the Premier League match at the London Stadium / IMAGO / Sportimage

In an interview, Liverpool midfielder, Harvey Elliott, spoke about the 21-year-old's time under new boss, Arne Slot. Having performed well in pre-season, the young Englishman's season start was cut short following a fractured metatarsal in the first international break of the season in September.

Finally fit again, following a three-month absence, he sat down with Paul Joyce to discuss the season and the plans ahead. When going through the tactics and how it is on the AXA training pitch, Elliott describes an image more akin to the arts, where actors will learn their lines and need to be on time with their delivery and presentation and where they need to be on the 'stage'.

“With the games coming thick and fast, it’s now just about practising the new style of play that we’ve learned with the gaffer and how we’re going to keep applying it in games.

“It’s completely different to what we used to play before, so it’s like if you’re performing, if you’ve got a show, you keep going over and rehearsing it and rehearsing your lines or your part of the play.

“That’s kind of what we’re doing at the moment. We just keep going over and over things and making sure we’re getting it to a tee, really.”

Liverpool's Harvey Elliott scores the second goal during the Football League Cup Quarter-Final match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC at St Mary s Stadium. / IMAGO / Propaganda Photo

A rousing endorsement of the new head coach, who at times this season has shown, almost a mutated version of the previous Jurgen Klopp Liverpool. Not far removed from the heavy metal football we are all accustomed to. Slot has appeared to take the strengths of the earlier iterations of Liverpool teams under Klopp and added his own detail-oriented, possession-based, football that has looked like a combination of Pep Guardiola's Man City and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool combined. A joy to watch in certain games.

Harvey Elliott has engineered a 45-minute commute from Manchester to the training facilities in order to clear his head and allow him to impress the management at Liverpool and sieze any opportunity he is given.

“I think, for me, the most important part is my drive into training. I give a lot of thought to things then, so that as soon as I come through the gates and I park my car up, everything that I’ve needed to think about, whether it’s good or bad, it’s out of my head.

“As soon as I walk into the building, my mind and my focus is just on football. It can be to do with football or it can be to do with what’s going on in my life.

“The other day, it was quite an unserious thought, to be honest. I didn’t really sleep too well. So my main thought coming in was, as soon as I get through the door, make sure I have a coffee. To get myself going, to get myself lively again.

“When you’re a big team, the standards are so high. Each and every day you have to be on it 100 per cent. And, you know, even if you’re feeling off it yourself, you have to kind of pull yourself together and pull through — just so you don’t stand out for the wrong reasons.”

Harvey, still only 21-years-old, has mountains of potential and the drive to achieve his lofty goals. He also understands that there are others ahead of him, but has a clear idea about where he wants to play and what his key strengths are.

“I feel like that’s my strongest point, especially when it comes to the creativity side of things and the playmaking. That’s the position I play at England and I feel like I can really show my attributes. But on top of that, we have two other world-class No10s in Curtis and Dom.

“It’s not going to be easy at all. It’s just about waiting for my moment, my opportunities and trying to take them with everything I have. On top of that, when I do get brought in, whether it’s as a sub or wherever I start, I just want to try to contribute for the team and be the best possible player I can.”

Harvey Elliott of Liverpool during the Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London / IMAGO / Sportimage

With the highest of honours on offer for Liverpool this season, Harvey has appreciated the bluntness of Arne Slot and his coaching staff, if you are not performing, you will be very aware of that fact, but also instructed and guided on how to correct that.

“He’s very straightforward and to the point, which I feel personally is what you need. If you’re not doing it in training or in games, or if there’s something you need to work on, he’ll tell you.

“For me, that’s how I’ve been brought up. If it wasn’t my dad telling me, my dad would tell the coaches when I was younger to try to make me the best possible player. All the players have meetings. We sit through clips of the games where we could have done better but also look at what we’ve done well.

“I feel like that’s where they have a great balance. The staff will tell you what you need to improve on, but they’ll also give you a bigger and better compliment as well. So it’s not all walking out of the room upset and annoyed. It’s a mixed conversation, where you’re getting negatives and positives. You can come away with it feeling healthy.”

With just nine appearances so far this season, with one goal, in just 147 minutes, some may assume that Harvey isn't fancied by the new coaching staff. Again, his age needs to be considered, at just 21-years-old, there is a lot of football left in the Englishman. And Arne Slot, together with his coaching staff, looks set to extract every ounce of it over their tenure with Liverpool.