Slot's crazy idea turned into a joke

Slot's famous "kick the ball up in the air" tactic.

Arne Slot is making the Premier League bow in his first season in charge of Liverpool. The Dutch coach has led "The Kop" straight to the second domestic championship title of the Premier League era, something that few people expected after the departure of Jurgen Klopp.

However, Slot once made waves in the football world with his incredibly bold tactical ideas. And one of them not only shocked but also became an immortal anecdote of Dutch football. He is associated with the saying "Een briljante mislukking", or "A genius failure".

During his time playing for PEC Zwolle in the Dutch second division, Slot played as a midfielder and asked the head coach for permission to experiment with an unconventional tactic to disrupt the opponent right after the opening whistle.

The idea sounds like a joke, but it's true. It's kicking the ball high into the air right in the center circle in the middle of the field, so that the strikers can take advantage of the confusion of the opposing defense to find a scoring opportunity.

Slot and his teammates practiced the technique several times in training sessions. This method was considered to be effective enough. So in the match against Cambuur in 2011, Slot decided to perform the "great move".

Right after the opening whistle, Slot flicked the ball up and kicked it straight up into the sky, almost vertically and even back towards his own half.

The ball landed in the center circle, with both teammates and opponents looking on in amazement, while the audience burst into laughter and cheered sarcastically. The commentator at the time didn't know what to call it, so he just exclaimed: "What an inexplicable start to the match."

Coach Slot's bold idea when he was a player.

"The plan was to kick the ball high into the box, let our three strikers rush forward and take advantage of that moment of confusion. In training, we tried it three times, it worked well so we decided to use it for real. But it had to be done very precisely," the head coach at the time, Art Langeler, told De Stentor.

"When you watch it again, if you don't know the story behind it, you'll think: 'What the hell is going on? Did they just kick the ball into the air?'. This is a genius failure. We just let it happen like that," the coach added.

Assistant coach Jan Everse was more blunt: "It was a bad idea. Arne has many ideas, but this was definitely the worst. The kick was completely missed. He made himself look stupid, it was unbelievable."

But the 46-year-old coach did not give up. Slot even tried the "kick the ball up to the sky" tactic again, also in 2011, still against Cambuur, and continued to receive a humiliating defeat.

Luckily for Liverpool, Slot isn't taking that idea to the Premier League. "We certainly won't see Mohamed Salah or Dominik Szoboszlai kicking the ball into the air and hoping to cause chaos at Anfield," wrote The Sun.

The "genius failure" of that year may make people laugh, but it also reflects an important point: Slot always dares to think differently, dares to try things that no one has thought of. And perhaps it is that spirit that helps him write a new and promising chapter with Liverpool.

Newcastle's 2 goals sink Liverpool In the early morning of March 17, Newcastle defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley and won the FA Cup. The 2 goals were scored by Dann Burn and Isak.

Source: https://znews.vn/y-tuong-dien-ro-hoa-tro-cuoi-cua-slot-post1542870.html