Arne Slot on Liverpool latest ahead of Nottingham Forest

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Arne Slot on Liverpool latest ahead of Nottingham Forest   13/09/2024  Axa training centre, Liverpool, UK

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00:00You?

00:01Yeah, very well, thank you.

00:02Very well?

00:03Very well.

00:04Get to play golf tomorrow.

00:06Tomorrow? You're not going to watch the game?

00:08I'll be watching the game, play early doors.

00:12Is the weather like this tomorrow?

00:14I'm hoping so, yeah.

00:17As long as it's dry.

00:19Yeah, it's fine.

00:20Arnaut, I'm just going to start with maybe two-in-one here as regards team news.

00:25Obviously, Harvey Elliott has picked up that injury,

00:28how disappointing is that for him, and how long is he looking at?

00:31At the same time, is Kiers now ready to come in and impact the score for you as well?

00:36They always have one question, and that's why they ask two-in-one.

00:41Harvey is of course a big disappointment for him, but not only for him, also for us,

00:45because he didn't play that much in the first three games,

00:49but he played a lot in pre-season and he showed himself really well.

00:53So of course when he stayed fit he would have had a lot of playing time

00:57in the upcoming fixtures, but now he isn't and that also gives a chance to someone else.

01:02So it's first and foremost a blow for himself and in the end also for us,

01:07because I think availability is important in the face of the season

01:11where we play seven games in 22 days, I think.

01:15So it's a blow for the both of us,

01:17but he will work as hard as always to come back in the best possible way.

01:23And then Federico has trained with the team now three or four times,

01:29so let's see how he does today and which decision I make,

01:32because we have more than 20 players.

01:35So if I choose for a position or if I choose the ones that are the fittest at the moment.

01:41During the international break there's obviously been those quotes from Kelleher

01:44saying that he wants first-team football and we'll have to look elsewhere,

01:48how do you deal with a situation like that

01:51where a member of the squad is effectively unsettled

01:54because he wants that opportunity for first-team football?

01:58I would be really worried if a player comes out saying,

02:00I don't care about playing first-team football,

02:03I like it so much in the Benz, I want to stay there for the rest of my life.

02:07That would be a bigger worry for me, so it's normal that they want to play,

02:11but it's also normal that a club like this that tries to compete for trophies

02:16has more than 11 players that can play,

02:19and as long as they accept their situation,

02:22not accepting in a way, I don't care that I'm not playing,

02:25but accepting it by helping the team whenever they have to,

02:28then it's a good place to be in,

02:31and I think Kweef has shown many times in the past few years and even in pre-season

02:36that he's every time ready when we need him.

02:39So it's a good thing that he wants to play,

02:42and who knows, he's going to play for us in the future.

02:47At this moment I think it's also quite clear that Alisson is the number one,

02:51but last season he played many games,

02:54so it's a normal situation for a player to be in,

02:57if you're not playing that you want to play, but he handles the situation really well.

03:01Three wins to start the season without conceding, which doesn't happen too often,

03:05it seems a big factor in that has been the form of Ryan Kravenberg,

03:09what has really made the difference and what work has he had to put in to,

03:13I suppose, learn that position?

03:15Yeah, I learned that position, he's been a midfielder all his life,

03:19and maybe he's playing a bit deeper than he did before,

03:26but it's not that much of a difference.

03:29I think he, like the other ones who do really well,

03:32benefits from how the team is playing.

03:35And Ryan came back strong, like many others,

03:38and strong I mean that he was really fit,

03:41played some good games and took his chance.

03:44But I think in general, like the others who score goals,

03:48we are talking about the benefits also from the team structure.

03:51Trust as well?

03:55Yeah, if trust means that you play him then I trust him,

03:59but I also trust the ones that are not playing,

04:02so I think it's always the most easy argument to give,

04:06yeah, you give him trust, that's why he plays good.

04:09If it was that simple I would have thrown my trust to every player,

04:13but we're going to go out to the training ground

04:16hoping to prepare them in the best possible way.

04:19I believe more in this than in the word trust,

04:22but if he trusts his team-mates, if he trusts the structure

04:26and the way we play, that will help, of course.

04:32Given the international break after the three games you had

04:35and such a great start, is there any concern that the momentum

04:38you built up there might be interrupted because of that?

04:41That's always the question after two weeks,

04:44but if you saw them playing with the national teams,

04:47I think the momentum is still there for the individual,

04:51and now let's see if they come back together,

04:54if they can play the same way they did in the last few games.

04:57But it also depends on the opponent you face,

05:00sometimes they make it more difficult for you than in other situations.

05:05Of course we look at ourselves a lot,

05:08but you also have to relate it to the team you face,

05:11and Nottingham Forest hasn't lost this season yet,

05:14I think they won the last two games of last season,

05:17so they're in a good place as well.

05:19So it's going to be a tough one and an interesting one to look forward to.

05:22In terms of the defence not having conceded a goal so far,

05:25how much work did you initially think you needed to do on that when you first arrived?

05:30Was that one of your top priorities when you got here?

05:33You have to tell them exactly the opposite of what you are saying,

05:38the defence is keeping a clean sheet.

05:41In my opinion it's not the defence who keep a clean sheet,

05:44it's 11 players who keep a clean sheet.

05:47And that's why we try to convince them constantly about this,

05:51because in an ideal world we don't need Alisson,

05:55but that ideal world is still not there,

05:58because against United we needed him a few times,

06:01against Brentford we needed him one time in particular,

06:04and against Ipswich in the first half as well.

06:07It's a team performance that we don't concede,

06:09and that has a lot to do with us putting in a lot of work without the ball.

06:17In terms of the contract situations of Trent, Virgil and Alex Salah,

06:21how much of a distraction is it?

06:24And would it be better if the situations were resolved quickly?

06:30That's again the boring answer which you're going to get from me

06:33as long as there's no news about this,

06:35but we don't talk about contract situations over here.

06:38Is it distractive, is that the word you use for me?

06:41No, it isn't, because I'm fully focused on the individuals and the team,

06:45and they are part of the team,

06:47and trying to work with them in the best possible way to get the best out of them.

06:51So it's not a distraction for me at all.

06:57Trent played two full games for England,

06:59the break didn't go very well,

07:01you've been managing his minutes to start the season,

07:05is that something you'll still continue to do,

07:07or do you now see him as an advantage to England that he can do 90 minutes for you?

07:12Yeah, he proved he could do 90 minutes,

07:14but maybe he could have done that before as well.

07:16In the Ipswich game I saw that he became a bit tired towards the end of the game,

07:21but he played two games afterwards so I think he's completely ready to play 90,

07:25and sometimes in the beginning it was that I saw he was tired,

07:28and sometimes it's also having another player like Conor Bradley

07:31who can do the job really well.

07:34So he's able to play 90, he showed, like all the others.

07:38But I have a whole team to manage and a whole team to prepare for the season,

07:43and it's also good for Conor to get his playing minutes,

07:47or for the one that comes in for Mo,

07:50or the one that comes in for...

07:52Which other ones did I take off, I don't know exactly.

07:54So it's not always you guys, and I understand,

07:57try to look always at the individual, I look at the team.

08:00And I have to prepare the whole team, the whole squad.

08:03For the upcoming fixtures.

08:05Did everyone return OK from the snap to you?

08:12Yeah, he was out in the last game but he trained with us yesterday.

08:16But of course the press conference started with a question about Javi Elliott.

08:20He didn't stay fit unfortunately, so he's out for a longer time.

08:26But I'm expecting Maka to be with us tomorrow.

08:30No girls?

08:33No, I don't think anyone else will.

08:37Arne, you've had a very settled team so far,

08:40but with this schedule now with seven games in the next three weeks,

08:43do you see that as you're going to have to change in terms of rotating

08:47and give opportunities to players that haven't had those chances so far this season?

08:51That's something that I decide before every game.

08:56My former teams were able to play,

09:00we were actually playing almost every game with the same players,

09:03but it's a different league, so I might have to adjust to that,

09:08but it also depends on what they show.

09:12And what I mean by what they show in terms of physique.

09:16In the first three games we were really strong,

09:18but we only played one game each seven days.

09:20Now they have a point to prove,

09:23and I assume that they all want to play every game,

09:26so if they want to they have to show up every time,

09:28and I don't mean also in quality but especially in work rate.

09:32But we have more than 11 very good players, so I can use more.

09:36But I can't tell you now if I'm going to do so or not,

09:40then I'm going to decide before every game that comes up,

09:43and I get some feedback from medical staff, performance staff,

09:47where they are and what's the best thing to do,

09:50and then we make the decision before every game.

09:53Hi, Jürgen.

09:55Alongside Trent, there was actually ten of your squad

09:58who played two full games over this international break,

10:01and of all the English teams playing in Europe,

10:03no-one else had more than five.

10:05Do you accept this as a price of success,

10:08or is there a chance maybe you might be having a bit of a quiet word

10:11with some of the international managers ahead of October and November?

10:14In some situations I was really happy with the fact that they played 90,

10:19Gerard Kwanzaa, I think he played two times 90,

10:22Kostas Zimnikas played two times 90, Cody played a lot of minutes,

10:27and we were just discussing that I played in the first three games mostly the same pace,

10:31Conor Bradley played two times 90.

10:34So for now it was a present that I got from most national team coaches.

10:42Maybe in the future I would love to be a bit different,

10:47but it's a positive thing that we are in such a good place,

10:52that we have ten players that can play every minute for the national team,

10:56so it's a lot about the quality we have.

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