- 7 weeks ago
Liverpool boss Arne Slot on the fitness of Alisson, their recent losing run and the need to turn it around against Manchester United in a special derby game at Anfield
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Arne, can we just check onto you? First of all, obviously Ryan Gravenberg,
00:05he's taken off with the precautions here today. With Alisson and Kanate as well,
00:10would you be fit to play Manchester United?
00:12Ryan is completely fit, although we still have to train twice,
00:16but if you ask me now, he's completely fit. We are in a good place with the Dutch national team,
00:22if Ronald Koeman can make a decision either to play Tiziani Reinders or Ryan Gravenberg.
00:28So he played them both 45 minutes. Ibu has come back to us,
00:33started his sessions again and expected to train with us today.
00:37And the third one is Alisson, he's not training with us, so he's out.
00:42Have you got any further indications of how Alisson could play?
00:45Like I always say, it's so difficult to say because the end phase of rehab
00:52always can give you positives or negatives, but he will not play.
00:57In the weekend and also not next week.
01:00Virgil has spoken again about just how difficult it is to retain the Premier League title.
01:05Possibly we saw some of that in the run prior to the international break as well.
01:09So what's your message been to the players now as you regroup,
01:12return to the Premier League action, what is traditionally the biggest fixture,
01:16one of the biggest fixtures in the calendar?
01:18No, I think what we can say is if we compare ourselves to last season,
01:23we don't create as many chances as we did last season, in the start of last season.
01:29But we are still the team that from open play creates the most XG chances,
01:35most shots on target, but we've conceded too many goals.
01:41We've conceded too many goals, that's for sure.
01:43And we've conceded nine where four of them are from set pieces.
01:46That is what was and still is, by the way, a strength of us,
01:51which sounds weird if you concede four, but that's not a reflection
01:54of the chances we've conceded in terms of set pieces.
01:58So the other five were two fast breaks and three from open play.
02:03I think in open play we are conceding too many crosses,
02:09so that is one of the things what we have to address and what we have to do better.
02:15And like Virgil says, I don't know if he says this, but I think he implements this,
02:23that teams are facing us differently than the first half of last season.
02:30But that is also what I've said, the amount of long balls that we are facing now
02:34compared to last season.
02:36I think we're already one third on the way in the amount of long balls
02:40we have to defend compared to last season, after seven games already.
02:46So we have to find answers to that.
02:48And the first answer is not to concede so many goals,
02:50because if it's harder to score your goals,
02:53the best thing you can do is make it harder for teams to score against you as well.
02:57You mentioned that obviously scoring goals,
03:01we've only seen Mo's numbers drop off because it's five in his last 21 appearances,
03:06last season we saw him hit 32 in the first 41 games,
03:10yet against Manchester United he scored more goals in this picture than any other player,
03:14so is this the kind of game that maybe could reignite Mo's four months ago?
03:19I think it should not matter who we are playing on Sunday or Saturday,
03:26but we play on Sunday.
03:28If you've lost three games in a row and you wear the Liverpool shirt,
03:32it doesn't matter who your opponent is, you have to react.
03:35And if there's one thing I cannot blame the players is that they give everything they have,
03:40every single game, they go all in from the first till the last minute,
03:43this is what we did in the last three games as well.
03:46We in both games had to come back – in all three games we had to come back from being 1-0 down,
03:52in two games we managed to do so.
03:54But unfortunately lost in the end where we were having chances in both games,
03:58maybe more than our opponent, to win it.
04:01But if you've lost three in a row, it doesn't matter if Man United is coming or Brentford next week,
04:08there should always be a reaction, not only from all the players.
04:13How do you view this – just speaking about playing Manchester United in general,
04:16the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United – how do you view this as an occasion?
04:21No, I look forward to every single Premier League game,
04:26but maybe even more towards the Man United one,
04:31because I know how special it is and I've experienced it last season,
04:34how special of a game it is.
04:36We know that it's probably the game that's been watched the most all over the world.
04:40So yeah, it's special to be part of it.
04:43But in the end it's also a game where we have to be at our best,
04:47because United, in my opinion, has had a better start of the season
04:53than maybe the league table is showing.
04:56So yeah, very interesting game and a game to look forward to,
05:01especially because it's played at Anfield.
05:03And I think our fans have been so supportive for us as long as I'm here
05:07and long before I was here.
05:09And I think they understand that the team that has lost three times in a row,
05:14they need to be ready, our team.
05:16But I think our fans can help us and will help us on Sunday as well.
05:21You mentioned before about teams playing you in a different way this season,
05:27obviously trying to defend your championship.
05:30How much have you had to rethink how you set up and how you play?
05:35And how can Liverpool start to surprise teams again?
05:38If you are the team that has created the most chances from open play,
05:44you can argue if we don't surprise teams.
05:47Maybe we do things better than the last three results as shown.
05:53But it's also clear what I just said, that we haven't created that many chances
06:00as we did last season.
06:01And there's a reason for that.
06:02That's the playing style of the opponent.
06:03And we have to find answers to that.
06:05But the first answer is not to concede so many goals as we did.
06:09Because there's one way of winning a game of football to score two or three goals.
06:13But if the other team scores one or two goals, you need three goals.
06:17Where last season we also were able to keep a clean sheet and only need one goal.
06:22First half of last season we mainly got these goals from a special moment of one of our front three.
06:28Where in the second half we mainly needed a set piece to make the difference against these low blocks.
06:34And this season we haven't had that many special moments – special, what I mean is an act of brilliance –
06:43and we haven't scored from a set piece.
06:45If you would tell me that we've conceded 40 percent of our goals from set pieces
06:49and the number one in the league has scored 60 percent of their goals from set pieces
06:54and we're still one point behind that team, I would probably think that's not even that bad.
06:59But it is of course clear that conceding four is far too much for a team that wants to compete.
07:08And Alexander Isak played twice in Sweden four games over the international break.
07:13I just wonder how you see his fitness progressing as I know you've been keen to sort of build him up steadily
07:18given his lack of pre-season and everything that's going on.
07:21Yeah, I think that's what we did. And I think now he's had his five, six weeks of pre-season,
07:26which is normal for every player, especially if you've been out for three or four months.
07:30So fitness-wise I think he's now close to the level he should be,
07:35and now I think we can judge him in the best – in a fair way from now on.
07:41So I know how this industry works. If he plays there twice and doesn't score, then that's not what you're hoping for, of course.
07:51You're hoping if they go to national teams that they score goals like Cody did, like Virgil did, like Dominic did,
07:56and like Mike Alistair did. Do I forget a few? Probably.
08:00But he didn't. But I think his pre-season may be finished. Now he's played a few games, 70, 80, 90 minutes.
08:11So let's see where he is from in the upcoming weeks.
08:16Paul?
08:17Hi, Adam. This team is not used to losing three games in a row.
08:22And including what effects some may have had on the confidence in them,
08:27and do you look to the best in the sort of reestablish sort of normality?
08:34No, I think these players might need me, but I don't think they need me to tell them what has happened.
08:41We've played ten games this season, won seven, lost three. And the three we've lost, we've lost by very close margins twice in the last minute.
08:52And once both teams got a penalty, both times the VAR should have overturned that decision, but only the one we got was overturned.
09:01So the margins are small, but I keep saying we should not be dependent of that margins.
09:06Although we played Chelsea away, I don't think, I think it's normal that that's an equal game, because Chelsea has a very good team as well.
09:15And we were able to create more than them. So that is part of it. But results don't lie.
09:23If you lose three times in a row, we have to do better. But I think these players that have experienced so many things don't wake up at night thinking,
09:33wow, we've lost three times. We need to be aware of that, we are aware of that, and we have to react to that.
09:39But we have to give the same reaction if we win three times in a row, and Man United is on the fixture list.
09:45So what we have to do is create habits, do everything what we usually do, where we win or lose, but maybe after losing three times,
09:54you're hoping for that sparkle or this one or 2 percent more, not only from us, also from our fans on Sunday.
10:04I don't know. That last thing, I don't know. I assume that everybody is talking about that now again. I don't know.
10:24But it's just the situation as it is. You could argue it's better to have them with you to have the next game again,
10:35and then people cannot talk about it for two weeks. Now people could talk about it for two weeks.
10:41They went to the national team, a few of them had goals and assists.
10:45But what I like about top players is that you don't notice anything if they win three times in a row.
10:50They don't walk into this building or in the dressing room feeling they are so much better than the rest of the league.
10:56They just prepare themselves every single time in the same way if they win or lose.
11:02But, yeah, the outside world is, of course, very focused on the results, which we are as well.
11:08So we don't deny the results over here. We need to do better, not only because we lost three times.
11:14I think in general, if you look at all the ten games, it was ten times quite equal, like last season, by the way.
11:20And we are trying to work every single day to make that gap between us and the teams we face bigger.
11:26But, yeah, easier said than done.
11:30Thanks.
11:31Just on Alexis, he was talking the other night after the Argentina game, sending Adna at the start of the season individually that he hoped for.
11:38Do you put that down to the big chunk of pre-season that he missed?
11:41And similar to Alex, would you accept him now that he is a position to kick on and be more influential?
11:46I haven't heard that interview, so I don't know what he meant. Did he meant the quality of play? Did he meant the amount of minutes he made?
11:54One thing is clear, and that's what it was in your question, is that he missed out on a lot, unfortunately.
12:02He went out immediately after we won the league, and we were expecting him to be back from the start of pre-season, which he wasn't.
12:08And, yeah, that led to the fact that he wasn't able to play three times in a row, so he went in, out, in, out, 60 minutes, 45 minutes.
12:19And that's never an ideal scenario for a player, but like all the others, he's a player that has experienced so many things in his career already that he will be back at the level he wants and the level I want from him.
12:37Hi, Andy. Sunday is the start of seven games in 21 days, three weeks, basically.
12:44And you've spoken plenty of times about the benefit of consistency and cohesion between the sides, but also you know that in such a period you're not going to be able to play everyone every game.
12:54How hard is it to make that balance between trying to build that chemistry between the sides, but also keep the freshness going?
13:02Yeah, that's an interesting one because we were just talking about Makai, we were talking about Alex.
13:07Those are players we need to bring them back towards a lot of playing time, but you cannot go from no playing time at all to three times in a week.
13:15So that's why Conor Bradley the same in pre-season.
13:18So we had a few of them that led to changes, but everywhere around the world where teams have to face schedules like this, they have more than 11 players to take on this schedule.
13:30The thing is, if you rotate and you win, you do the smart thing, if you rotate and you lose, you have to play more with the same players.
13:38This is how football works, but it's clear that in general it's – especially for certain positions – it's almost impossible to play them every single game.
13:47And if you do, it's the risk of a player getting injured, and this has happened just before the international break with a few players,
13:54and has happened during the international break with some players, not with ours, except for Alisson, of course.
14:00But – so yeah, you have to find a balance in this, but I think the ones we have are now longer together.
14:08So yes, Alex is not the same player as Hugo, but they are both a number nine, and they both know what to do in our system.
14:15So it's only something I like that I have more than 11 players that can play a game of football.
14:24And it's never the reason for us to drop points or to lose a game of football.
14:29What does Florian Wiets and Dominic Zoboslai have to do with Kucherela attacking Monsanto?
14:54Did he?
15:03I think they are both attacking midfielders, and both are expected to defend, like all our 11 players are expected to defend.
15:11So yes, in this particular case I heard the comments of Kucherela, I also saw how they scored the 2-1.
15:19But I could also show you five or six moments where Mo could have made a difference for us.
15:26And if that would have happened, we would have had the conversation, like last season, where he so many times made a difference for us.
15:33And yeah, if that then doesn't happen, you get probably comments like this.
15:39It's always the balance between winger and fullbacks that is quite – I want our fullbacks to attack as well.
15:51So we have to find the right balance in that.
15:54But I just said in the start that we are conceding too many crosses compared to last season,
16:00and this is something I'm aware of, and we have to do better.
16:05Go ahead.
16:06My table.
16:07Let me, let's make one more, please.
16:08Yeah.
16:09I feel you good luck aboutí–‰.
16:11I agree to see you again.
16:12No, I agree to see you then.
16:13Just see you again.
16:14Not at hand!
16:15Yeah, that's for me.
16:16Go!
16:17Good luck.
16:20I love having me.
16:23Don't.
16:24Go!
16:25Go!
16:26D ATM.
16:27Go!
16:29Go!
16:30Go!
16:31Go!
16:32Go!
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