Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes does not often share his thoughts in public.
He had not spoken since accompanying head coach Arne Slot to his introductory press conference in June 2024 but used Liverpool’s in-house series ‘The Reds Roundtable’ to break that run, appearing alongside Slot and Fenway Sports Group chief executive officer Billy Hogan.
Given the platform, there was never likely to be questions that sparked controversy, and many will be frustrated that Hughes was not taking questions from journalists or fans rather than club media staff.
There were no enquiries, for example, about why Liverpool chose not to sign a winger to replace Luis Diaz or why the risk was taken to reduce the depth of the squad.
Even so, the 35-minute video offered did offer insights into Liverpool’s current situation on and off the field.
The transfer policy
The January window has now closed and while Liverpool added a highly-rated young centre-back for the summer in Jeremy Jacquet in a deal that could rise to £60million, there has been frustration among supporters about failing to enhance a threadbare squad heading into the second half of the season.
While those concerns were not directly addressed in the interview, there were some titbits on how Liverpool are looking to conduct their business.
The summer of Slot’s arrival saw them wait to see how a talented group of players would transition to a new regime. Then ahead of this season, after a year spent identifying players, they were much more active and overhauled the squad.
A lot of players also left in the summer and the lack of game time played a key factor in those squad members — including Harvey Elliott, Jarell Quansah and Tyler Morton — wanting to seek opportunities elsewhere.
“The ages of the players we have recruited is very deliberate to make sure we are not only competitive now but competitive for the mid-term future,” Hughes said.
“We knew that the first summer together… wasn’t going to be a particularly active one. Alongside ownership with their long term vision, they like to do things with the metrics and the data in their favour. The best way to do that is to prepare one year ahead.”
Jeremy Jacquet has been signed for the summer (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Since the return of Michael Edwards as FSG’s CEO of football and the appointment of Hughes, Liverpool have continued to look for quality young players who still have room to develop. Of the additions, with the exception of Federico Chiesa who was 26, all of the new additions have been 25 or under when signed.
Jacquet, 20, is the latest addition to that list as the club continues to build for the future.
The problem, of course, is development can take time — with Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez two examples this season who started slowly and then improved — and that can lead to immediate growing pains. Far from the main problem, it is a reason for Liverpool’s struggles this season, along with injuries and the form of more established players.
The Hughes-Slot dynamic
Hughes’ first job as Liverpool’s sporting director was to appoint Jurgen Klopp’s successor and after Slot was chosen and then won the Premier League in his first season he rightly received plenty of praise.
The second season has been much tougher and while there has been growing noise at different points of the campaign about Slot’s position as head coach, the support from those above him has remained steadfast.
Hughes made clear that “everything that revolves around matchday — team selection, tactics — that’s always the manager or head coach, that’s their domain.”
But the pair’s relationship is clearly close. Slot said that they have “spoken almost on a daily basis since we started” and that “whenever I need him he is there for me but you don’t constantly feel that all the decisions you are making he is judging.”
The pair discuss performances and Hughes will offer advice or opinion on football topics but it is the head coach’s job to prepare the team in “ideal circumstances”. The exception was the decision to exclude Mohamed Salah for the squad to face Inter Milan after his explosive comments after the draw against Leeds United in December.
There was a slight admission from Hughes that even after a summer where spending nearly hit £450million, the club are not always able to provide the head coach with “all the tools” they require to succeed.
“We had synergy right from the first moment,” he added. “So understanding who he is as a football manager, how he wants to work, and trying your best — and it’s not always possible — to put them in the best possible position to have all the tools they require… that’s what I feel my job is.”
The need for patience
One admission from Hogan stood out in the interview. “This has been a challenging last several months but there is an element of patience which is required — difficult in the world we live in,” he said.
Patience has long gone as a concept in football. Everybody has to be in win now mode. A run of bad results changes everything, just like a run of good results does.
You never want to be seen as wasting a season and Liverpool’s recent history has had some exceptional highs but also a number of lows. When you’re the reigning Champions, the aim should be to do that again,
As Hughes alluded to earlier in the interview, though, the club’s transfer policy is to recruit with the long-term in mind and that can impact immediate results because development and adaptation takes time.
Slot also spoke about the impact of losing Diogo Jota, a tragedy which has cast a pall over the campaign.
Flowers laid at Anfield for Diogo Jota (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’ve done a lot of meetings in my life but the most difficult one was the one where we came back together after the funeral,” he said. “We came back to Liverpool and we had to do our first training session with all the new players coming in. I had to stand in front of the group and say something about training again and how we are going to handle this situation.”
Even now, seven months on, Slot’s finds himself looking at ” one place is empty where he should have been” in the dressing room.
Drop in form and style of play
“We have to win a game either by quality or by intensity,” said Slot. “Now the difficult thing for us is that this season and maybe the second part of last season, winning a game on the basis of intensity gets harder and harder for the simple reason that the other team tries to do everything to have as little intensity in the game as possible.”
While Slot insists he understands the approach of other teams, that does not mean that he is a fan of it. He has received criticism for his constant references about low blocks and long balls. It is a tactic that has exposed Liverpool’s weaknesses and therefore been used by a number of teams to also have success.
A lack of intensity has also been a criticism levelled at his team this season due to their ponderous play in possession and limited pressing success out of possession. The quality in Liverpool’s squad is clear, but they’ve been unable to consistently put together 90 minute performances like they have in one-off games against Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
Slot’s second season has been patchy (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Slot does not emit the same touchline energy his predecessor did, but he believes that his team can play an intense style while he remains calm in his technical area.
He is aware of the frustration and agrees with those complaining, insisting his brand of football is just as important to him as winning trophies is.
“You can win the league, win the Champions League, an FA Cup or a League Cup, but the biggest thing you can win is that you can play the nicest football to watch,” said Slot.
“Although at this moment of time fans might argue this a little bit, it is absolutely something that I am aiming for. I always want to have the ball, be intense, I want the fans to like what they see. That is something that I dislike the most, even more than our results — that not all of our fans are every single moment of the game see us as a joy to watch. The hardest thing is I even understand because I agree with them.”