John Heitinga, who is set to lead Liverpool from the dugout against Newcastle and Southampton, has been spoken of highly by Arne Slot in the past.
As a result of Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshoff being banned for the Reds’ next two domestic matches, Heitinga is expected to be the man leading Liverpool on the touchline.
He will be flanked by the first team individual development coach, Aaron Briggs, who has also been taking responsibility for set-piece tactics this season.
Slot will be forced to sit in the stands and communicate from a distance. Nevertheless, if his previous comments are anything to go by, Liverpool are in safe hands with Heitinga.
During the summer, Slot said both Heitinga and Briggs would bring “Premier League experience” to the staff.
He continued: “Both of them have worked in the Premier League – John more recent than Aaron – and both of them of course have their own role in our staff.
“I think I said before that Aaron is also the one that’s going to bridge the gap between the youth academy and the first team.
“He has an analyst background, so that’s a positive thing.
“John has played many games in the Premier League and last season he was an assistant coach at West Ham, so brings experience as a player, but also as an assistant in this league.
“He worked with someone that I know really well, and the two of us have quite a similar playing style, so I think it’s not going to take long for him to understand exactly what we want with the players.”
Heitinga came with considerable experience as both a player and a coach, having represented Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Everton, Fulham and Hertha Berlin during his playing career before holding jobs at Ajax and West Ham.
Similar, too, was the appointment Briggs, whose CV includes a number of roles with Man City.
In 2023, Heitinga was at Ajax and serving as assistant manager when they sacked Alfred Schreuder. They decided to replace him with Maurice Steijn rather than opt to promote the assistant.
“Sven Mislintat (Ajax technical director) did not choose Heitinga as head coach at the time and he left Ajax for that reason,” Slot told AD.
“Liverpool are now profiting from that. Apparently, they did not realise in Amsterdam that they had an excellent coach in-house.”
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