- 9 months ago
Liverpool boss Arne Slot on how good Manchester City are, the fitness of Alexander Isak and their recent return to form ahead of Sunday's match
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Hi, thank you, Hugh.
00:06Arne, obviously in terms of the title race, we can build it up,
00:11and it feels like it's a must-win for both sides,
00:13because of the difference in games lost that you've lost,
00:16that City have lost compared to Arsenal.
00:19How do you see it?
00:21I only focus on ourselves, and our main focus is on consistency at the moment.
00:27So, as you probably know, as an Everton fan,
00:31you know that we've lost a few games,
00:36much more than we usually do, and now we've won two.
00:41So our focus is on getting consistent and improving, improving,
00:46getting players fit, and then we will see where that will lead to.
00:51But at this moment of time,
00:54it's definitely not the only focus we have is the league table.
00:58What start then does that performance against Real Madrid give you,
01:01in terms of the level of performance that you reach that night?
01:04For me, but again, I say mainly the same,
01:09we've reached that level of performance in other games as well,
01:13when the playing style of the opponent was compared to that.
01:16But we always knew that we were able to do so.
01:23I've showed them many times when playing styles were similar
01:27that we could do the same as we did against Madrid.
01:30So it wasn't a surprise to me how both games went.
01:35It was helpful for us that the other team did what we expected them to do,
01:40because in eight out of the ten games I think we've played this season,
01:46we faced a different playing style than all the games these teams played before.
01:51But Villa and Madrid did what we could expect,
01:54and I think that's always helpful.
01:56Then there's still a lot of work to be done by the players
01:59to get a performance like that.
02:01But it is helpful, where I think we can expect from City the playing style we always see,
02:08but the difficult thing in that is that they are very good in it
02:12and have very good players.
02:14So that makes that challenge big again.
02:17But as I said, every Premier League game, every Champions League game is a challenge.
02:22I'll just ask about your left-hand side as well.
02:25There's obviously Florian putting in a really good performance through the night.
02:28Is that the way forward for him, playing from the left now rather than the ten?
02:32And just checking on Andy Robertson,
02:34is he able to go again after starting the last two games in the week as well?
02:38He started three games in seven days,
02:41because he also played the game against Crystal Palace,
02:44where I also played a few starters, not many.
02:50I had to take him off at the end of the game.
02:55For me it felt, because I felt he was tired, but we have to wait and see.
03:00We had recovery the day after.
03:02We were a day off yesterday and now a two-day lead-in to City.
03:05So let's see where he is today.
03:07And Florian can play on more than only one position, so he can play off the left,
03:14which he did almost all the time in Leverkusen when Xabi Alonso came
03:20and introduced this 3-4-3 system, or the way you want to call that system.
03:25And before that he mainly played as a 10 in the 4-3-3.
03:28So I think it's more about getting him in the positions where he's good at,
03:33then we should be so focused on is he a 10, is he an 11 or is he an 8.
03:39I think we would like to have him in and around the 18-yard box centrally,
03:46or a bit more on the left or a bit more on the right,
03:49for him to create the amount of chances he's already created for us.
03:53Can you just check Isak to be involved?
03:56He will train for the first time today with the team again, after being three weeks out.
04:01So I know that I said three weeks ago his pre-season has ended,
04:05so now it's time for us to see where he is.
04:08But I have to come back to those words,
04:12because if you're three weeks only with the rehab,
04:15that doesn't bring you back to the levels he was three weeks ago.
04:19Although our rehab team is doing an incredible job,
04:22but you cannot compare rehab with games of football or training sessions with the team.
04:28As much as we try to replicate it, that's simply not possible.
04:32So, again, I have to say give him some time.
04:39Arno, you said before about finding consistency with the team,
04:45how much of a boost would it be for everyone in terms of having faith
04:50that your troubles are behind you if you can go to Manchester City
04:53and get a result to build on what you did against Real Madrid and Aston Villa this week?
04:58Yeah, to make that a little bit more clear, we were actually very consistent.
05:05But the thing is, we were consistent in losing.
05:08So that wasn't the idea about being consistent,
05:12doing the things right which we have to do and improving in that way.
05:17So, yeah, City is of course a game on itself.
05:23You could say playing there away from home is probably one of the most difficult challenges
05:27you have throughout the season.
05:29Although I constantly keep on saying how difficult it is to play Brentford away
05:33or Palace away, every away game is difficult,
05:37every home game as well, but an away game even more.
05:40And that's, I think, what City have felt this season,
05:42because they've lost, I think, two away games.
05:45We've lost away games.
05:47The only exception to that is Arsenal, who maybe lost one away game against us,
05:51but they've been the exception this season,
05:54where the rest have probably done similar things.
06:00So, yeah, very interesting game to look forward to,
06:03because when I wasn't working here and when I was in Holland,
06:08I did know when City-Liverpool was or where Liverpool City was,
06:13and I could tell you I was 100% sure in front of my television when this game was there.
06:18Similar to Classico, by the way.
06:20But these are the few games everyone is looking forward to.
06:23And if you're not part of it, you're looking forward to it as well.
06:27Do you think it'll be worth watching again?
06:29I think it's always worth watching,
06:31because so many great individuals are playing that game.
06:34And, yeah, these teams nine out of ten times give you what you expect.
06:44For me, with Pep, that's ten out of ten,
06:46and people should give their opinion about me.
06:50But what I liked about Pep Guardiola's teams is that you ten out of ten times get what you were hoping for.
06:59A great game of football with no time-wasting and all kinds of things
07:04that I start to dislike more and more and more about football.
07:08But these are not the things you can see if you're watching a Man City game.
07:13Thank you. Mike?
07:15Anna, two fantastic performances and two great results in the last week.
07:21What do you think has enabled the team to rediscover its functionality in midfield?
07:28Because Gravenberg and Zoberslai, McAllister now as well, all playing their part individually,
07:35but collectively they look like the unit they were last season.
07:39Teams are finding it more difficult to get beyond them,
07:42and creatively they're doing the business as well.
07:45Yeah, I don't know if the focus should be that much about these three midfielders.
07:51It is true that I couldn't have played them many times together yet,
07:55for obvious reasons, injuries mainly.
07:58Not only on the midfield, sometimes on the opposition,
08:02that's why I needed Dominic in different positions.
08:06And it helps if the team plays more and more together, that's one thing.
08:11And it helps.
08:12I can come up with all kinds of arguments that have helped to lead up to this performance,
08:18but that's kind of boring, in my opinion, because people might then say
08:22oh, now he's using the wins for the excuses for his losses.
08:26But yeah, it has been two good games.
08:32Although, again, in my opinion, I liked, I think I'm the only one who thinks this,
08:38I liked our performance against United more than against Villa.
08:42But the result I liked against Villa much more.
08:46And what I mean with that is from open play,
08:48we created much more chances against United than we did against Villa.
08:52You conceded more though.
08:54Yeah, because we were 1-0 down and 2-1 down,
08:56so we had to be taking more risks.
08:58But we didn't concede a lot against United, I can tell you.
09:04And we were lucky against Villa that they're one of the best goalkeepers in the world,
09:08made a mistake that he hardly ever makes.
09:11And we had a deflection where the amount of chances we had against United
09:15were much more.
09:17But again, if you win a game, everything is wow, what a game.
09:22Or you look at this, look at that.
09:23And if you lose a game, there's a lot of focus on the things you have to improve.
09:27And that's why I try to balance that out a little bit more inside this building.
09:31How much more do you think there is to come from Dominic Zobbe's life?
09:36Because his performances in the two games, I've just mentioned,
09:40Villa and Real Madrid in particular, were of such a high standard in all aspects of the game.
09:46And against Real Madrid, probably a performance I think Steven Gerrard would have been proud of.
09:53That's probably the best compliment he can get.
09:58I think he's been outstanding throughout the whole season.
10:01But these two games brought even more out of the team and out of him for me,
10:06for obvious reasons, but it's maybe smarter not to say those reasons
10:12because I don't want to say the same things over and over again.
10:17And you probably know what I mean without me saying it.
10:21Do you?
10:23No.
10:24You have no clue what I'm talking about?
10:26I think Dominic has a lot of qualities,
10:31but one of them is also his work without the ball.
10:36And his work without the ball was...
10:41I like his work without the ball every single game,
10:43and in the last two games that was probably even above his own standards.
10:52Can I just ask you back to Andy Robertson?
10:56He may have left in the summer and he's come in and done a job here.
11:01It's shown the importance of Hans-Marc in the squad.
11:04He's 32 next year and he's out of contract at the end of the season,
11:07but has he shown that he can still operate at the very highest level
11:12in the last two performances he's shown?
11:14It's been a while before I heard the word contract, but there it is again.
11:19He's done really well in the last three games,
11:22because he played three games in seven days,
11:26although I took him off against Palace after 60-65 minutes.
11:31So I was very pleased to see that he was able to play almost 90 in his last game,
11:35because it's hard for players to play three games in seven days.
11:40Eight days or nine days is already a big difference compared to seven days.
11:44He's done well, as the team did, and I think it's so helpful for every individual
11:53if the team plays at his best.
11:56And that's, I think, what we did in the last two games.
12:01And he's been calm on the ball and done his job defensively.
12:07So, yeah, happy with his two, maybe three performances,
12:12although Palace 3-0 loss wasn't the best game of the season for us.
12:17Do you know, through this perception that once players get past 30,
12:22you sort of see a bit of a decline,
12:24and it's always referred to Mo in that respect,
12:27that he doesn't really show that level,
12:30but is Robbo a similar sort of type of player?
12:34He's keeping going, even though he's over-dirty.
12:39No, no, over 30 doesn't tell me anything if I look at Virgil, Mo and Robbo,
12:47who was last season also above 30,
12:50and all three of them were able to win the Premier League,
12:52and all three of them played a big part in it.
12:55But if a 24-year-old doesn't play as well, nobody talks about age,
13:01and if a 32, 33, 34-year-old has one or two bad games,
13:05people will start talking about age.
13:08That is how things work in this industry.
13:11But I think 32, I wouldn't say that that is old for a football player, in my opinion.
13:21You spoke earlier about Dominic Soberstein and his work off the ball.
13:25I think in the last couple of games,
13:27you've seen a great desire from Mo Salah to do that as well.
13:30I think if you look at his ground yields are up, his ball recoveries are up,
13:33and even if you look at his heat map,
13:35he spent a little bit more time in his own half,
13:37against teams who maybe were looking to double up on Conor Bradley.
13:41Is this a basis of a conversation you've had,
13:43or has he kind of taken it upon himself, do you think?
13:46I like what you are saying, because I've noticed this as well,
13:53and this is something that helped the team a lot,
13:56because the main focus is always on players that score a lot of goals,
14:00it's always on goal-scoring, goal-scoring, goal-scoring.
14:02But it's not for the first time.
14:03I think after the last time we played City in our away game,
14:08I think even Pep Guardiola said something about that.
14:12So, yeah, it's very important for us to have Mo scoring goals,
14:20but it's also very important for us to have Mo,
14:23like he played against City last season,
14:25where he also scored a goal and assisted,
14:27and helped the team out a lot in his defensive work,
14:30and that's what he also did, like you said, in recent games.
14:38I'd like to ask Alisson and Jeremy Frimplon,
14:43how is their recovery coming,
14:45and do you expect him back after the international break?
14:47Alisson for sure,
14:49and I expect Jeremy back after the international break as well,
14:52because we play from November till March,
14:55but I don't expect Jeremy to be fully fit for Forrest,
15:01but with Alisson we expect this, yeah.
15:05You've scored four set pieces in the Champions League,
15:09and you've scored five in the Premier League.
15:11What do you think are the big differences in the physicality
15:14in domestic affairs in Europe, and how do you go about changing that?
15:18There is a difference.
15:20The difference is that in the Premier League
15:22much more is allowed than in Europe,
15:25but that has nothing to do with us scoring goals in Europe
15:27and not in the Premier League, by the way.
15:29But if you ask me is there a difference,
15:30yeah, there is a difference.
15:31I think the physicality in the Premier League is different.
15:34You see bigger players, older players.
15:37You can see this during the game,
15:39but also in the set pieces.
15:41There is no other league in the world
15:43where there is so much emphasis on set pieces, I think.
15:45So every throw-in, every ball,
15:4850, 60, 70 yards away from the opposite goal is brought in.
15:54And then if you ask me what is the difference for us,
15:57for me it's been being unlucky in the Premier League
16:00and maybe being a bit more lucky in the Champions League,
16:03because I can show you the same chances that we've created in the Premier League
16:07that we then just missed, where this led to goals in the Champions League.
16:12But I don't know if you say this, but I can say this,
16:17if we would have had the same set-piece balance in the Premier League
16:20as we had in the Champions League,
16:22we wouldn't have been seven points behind Arsenal at the moment.
16:26So yeah, conceding five and not scoring one,
16:31unless you want to see the one from Dominic Soboslai,
16:33which is a set-piece, but for me it's more throw-ins, corner-kicks.
16:39If we go back to what we can expect, how we perform,
16:44that will always definitely help us in winning more games
16:48in the Premier League as well.
16:52You're welcome.
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