Liverpool get their pre-season schedule under way on Sunday as they face Preston North End at Deepdale.
While the first match of the summer is often a time of excitement and intrigue, at Liverpool the feeling could not be more different this year.
Supporters do have reason to be excited for pre-season, but with the club still in mourning after the passing of Diogo Jota, it has been impossible for anyone to really think about the football.
Jota is set to be honoured ahead of the game against Preston, and with Liverpool already retiring his No. 20 shirt, the Portuguese has had tributes pouring in since his tragic death on July 3rd.
The pre-match displays will undoubtedly be tough for Liverpool players to endure as they continue to come to terms with the loss of a much-loved teammate.
And as he attempts to gear them up to get through the game, Arne Slot has explained how he has drawn on Jota’s character to try and rally the troops.
Arne Slot tells Liverpool players to be themselves
Sunday’s game is a necessary hurdle for Liverpool players to overcome, but it will not be an easy one.
Nevertheless, they do have a season to prepare for, and the sooner they get back out onto the pitch, the quicker they face every heart-breaking first without Jota.
Slot, to his eternal credit, has handled the sudden and tragic death of one of his players with the class and respect we have come to expect from him.
And speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, he explained what he has told the rest of the Liverpool squad ahead of Sunday’s difficult moment.
READ MORE: All eight Liverpool number 20s before Diogo Jota as Reds choose to retire iconic shirt
“Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened,” Slot said. “But we are a football club and we need to train and we need to play again, if we want it or not. What I’ve said to the players, I can say it here as well. It’s very difficult to find the right words because we constantly debate what is appropriate. What is appropriate in our actions? What is appropriate [for] what we have to say? Can we train again? Can we laugh again? Can we be angry if there’s a wrong decision?”
“And I’ve said to them, maybe the best thing for us to do is handle this situation like Jota was. And what I meant with that is that Jota was always himself, it didn’t matter if he was talking to me, to his teammates, to the staff, he was always himself. So let us try to be ourselves as well.
“So, if we want to laugh we laugh; if we want to cry we’re going to cry,” the Dutchman adds. “If they want to train they can train, if they don’t want to train they can not train. But be yourself, don’t think you have to be different than your emotions tell you.”
Slot shares overriding memory of Jota
As well as speaking poignantly about how his squad will attempt to move forward following the loss of Jota, Slot also touched on what he will remember most about the 28-year-old.
“I’ve only worked with him for a season and in that season he has been so important for me, for the club, for the fans, for his teammates in difficult moments,” he said.
“So, I can come up with the Everton goal, I can come up with some other goals – Fulham when we were down to 10. Even the last game we played against Crystal Palace when we were down to 10 and 1-0 down, he came in and took the ball in our own half, led to us scoring the 1-1. That is the football player that is in my mind.
“But I think what I take comfort in [is that] in the last month of his life he was a champion in everything,” Slot adds. “A champion for his family, which is the main and most important thing, because he got married. A champion for his country because he won the Nations League, [with] a country that he cared about so much, because he also wore the flag when we had celebrations. And of course a champion for us by winning the Premier League.”
Liverpool will never forget Jota. But as they grieve his death and try to cope with the aftermath, Sunday is the first step to honouring him on the pitch.
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