- 2 days ago
Liverpool boss Arne Slot on leaving Mo Salah out the team and their recent poor form ahead of their Premier League clash with Leeds United
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Arno, what steps do you feel you've taken in the past week with four points from a couple of games,
00:11just to start turning things around?
00:14The first thing you said in your question, four points out of two games,
00:18is different than the last two home games we've played,
00:21which we've both lost and conceded seven goals.
00:25In the last two games we were one deflection away from keeping two clean sheets.
00:31I said against West Ham the good thing for us was that they didn't score their one and only chance,
00:38and the same thing happened again in this game,
00:41they did not score the only chance they had,
00:44and you're looking at me, but they did score, but that for me was not a chance,
00:48the only chance they had was after 93 minutes when they went one-on-one to the goalkeeper.
00:53So that's a step forward if you compare that to seven goals conceded in two games.
00:58We did not concede a set-piece in both games, which is also important.
01:03As a result of that maybe we got two results,
01:06and I think there are also positives to take from the players we've brought in during the summer
01:12that I see they are getting more and more consistent in their performances.
01:15Florian is maybe the most obvious one, but I see the same with Miloš Kerkic as well.
01:20Alex scored his first goal a game ago.
01:24So, yeah, there are positives to take, but of course still not where we want to be,
01:30let that be obvious and clear.
01:32But compared to where we were after the last two losses with 3-0 and 4-1,
01:39there are also things that we've done better.
01:42You probably expected that with Mo being benched for two games,
01:46you would expect a lot of chat about him.
01:48But I'm going to put it a different way,
01:50the fact that you turned to Mo at half-time against Sunderland,
01:53how much of an indication is that of a return to the starting line-up maybe this weekend,
01:58rather than two consecutive games on the bench being an indication that his game-time
02:02could become more limited when he's obviously not away at AFCON?
02:05No, but I think for every player it's in my mind to start a game of football,
02:12because we have so many good players,
02:14and Mo has been such an exceptional player for us.
02:17So he's always, I don't know which word you use,
02:22but he's always in my mind to either start or to come in.
02:27Can you understand all the chat around him though?
02:33Yeah, of course, and maybe he even deserves that,
02:37because he's been so influential for this club,
02:40and for me, and for his teammates for six or seven years I think already.
02:46So yeah, it's completely normal if I don't play players that just came to the club,
02:51we're already talking about it, so then it's completely normal.
02:56People talk about it when he isn't playing.
03:00The test you face against Leeds, obviously we've seen them cause Manchester City problems,
03:03they've beaten Chelsea in the past week,
03:05what do you make therefore and how problematic is it their change of tactics?
03:09Because they seem to have gone 3-5-2 or at times 5-3-2.
03:12Yeah.
03:13Yesterday I looked at Leeds-Chelsea and I saw a Liverpool game,
03:19Chelsea conceding a set-piece and for the third goal making a big goal,
03:25making a big, big, big error where they conceded a goal from.
03:29Very difficult for them because either Leeds went very aggressive to 1v1,
03:34or they went to a low block and it was really hard to create chances.
03:39So yeah, it is not only difficult for us that playing style,
03:44it's difficult for many teams, including us.
03:47So yeah, what we expect is what we've seen in the second half against City,
03:50when they were 2-0 down coming back to 2-2.
03:53Eventually Foden made the difference with a moment on Magic for City,
04:01and against Chelsea they were really strong,
04:04played a very good game, really aggressive,
04:06a lot of long balls as well from their goalkeeper.
04:11So we know what to expect, but what to expect is probably what we've faced.
04:16Not all of the games, maybe with the exception of two.
04:21Are you expecting this to be quite a physical test
04:26in what is probably going to be quite a hostile stadium?
04:30Yeah, we do, but I think every Premier League game is a physical test,
04:35especially the way teams play against us.
04:38But not only that, it's also the best athletes in the world
04:44playing in the Premier League.
04:46So yeah, every game you play is a physical test,
04:51let alone an away game with, indeed, as I know,
04:55and you probably even know better than me,
04:57the fans that are a big support for them as well.
05:00Despite the difficulties you had this season,
05:03you're two points off the top four,
05:06I'm just wondering, is that now the main aim in the Premier League,
05:09to make sure you're going to be in that top four?
05:11For me that tells how good the Premier League is this season,
05:14as it already was last season,
05:16but it gets better and better and better every single season,
05:18for obvious reasons, because everybody has so much money.
05:21And that tells you indeed how close the margins still are,
05:26but it's definitely our first aim to come back to top four.
05:31Because we're obviously not happy with the position we are in at the moment.
05:37I just wondered how close Federico Chiesa is to maybe starting a few more games for Liverpool,
05:44looked lively in cameos and made obviously a key contribution in the last game,
05:48not at the end of the pitch you'd expect though.
05:50Cameo? What is that kind of one?
05:52Sorry, appearances from the bench.
05:55Ah, OK, I learned something today.
05:58As I just said, every player has a possibility to start,
06:04but we have many options to start in his position, as I said so many times before.
06:11But he's indeed having his impact coming off the bench a few times.
06:17Normally you bring a striker in to score a goal,
06:22but he in this situation kept on running in a moment where a player could also feel,
06:29I don't think I can do a lot anymore because he's going to go 1v1,
06:35so it tells you also the mentality he has not to concede,
06:40and that's a good thing because that's what not only defenders should have,
06:43that's also what attackers should have.
06:45Where is Florian Wirt's confidence at at the moment?
06:49Obviously he made a vital contribution to the goal the other night,
06:52but still doesn't have a goal to his name yet.
06:54No, but if you can only have confidence if you score goals,
06:59that would be the wrong thing.
07:01You can see where his confidence is at if you look at the last two games,
07:04how many times he wants the ball
07:06and how many times his teammates play him the ball,
07:09and that is something that tells me how much confidence he has at the moment.
07:15But it's also clear that he came back with an injury with Germany,
07:21so I'm already very happy that he is able to play so many minutes
07:27in his first two games after he came back from an injury.
07:31But he's done well.
07:32Like I said, I wasn't surprised that he was involved in the goal we scored
07:36against the Sunderland because he was one of the players,
07:40not the only one, one of the players who kept constantly trying,
07:44and was creative.
07:49Can I just check on team news, do you expect Conor Bradley to be back and ball?
07:54Did everyone get through the Sunderland game?
07:56Yeah, they did.
07:58Joe Gomez got a knock in the West Ham game, but was still able to start,
08:03but he couldn't make the full 90 minutes, but I think he will be able to train again today.
08:12So yesterday was a recovery day for most of them, today we will train again,
08:16and let's see where they are.
08:18But Conor Bradley has trained this week, so I expect him to train today,
08:22and then he is available to be in the squad tomorrow.
08:25Hi Arnie, I wanted to ask you about Cody Gakpo.
08:28I mean, if you think back to last season when he was at his best,
08:31he was in a fierce battle for his base with Luis Diaz,
08:34and even when they lined up together there was a chance that one of the other strikers
08:38would come on and that Luis Diaz would go out to the left.
08:40I think if you look at Premier League and Champions League last season,
08:43Cody played the full 90 only six times,
08:46whereas already this season he played ten times.
08:49We haven't seen a lot of Rio and Gamora in recent weeks in those competitions,
08:52and we haven't seen Hugo Aketike tried off the left,
08:55as we've heard that it may well be an option.
08:58Do you think Cody is maybe suffering a little bit
09:00from not having that razor-sharp competition for his starting post?
09:04Oh, that's an interesting way of looking at it,
09:07because you can also look at it in a way if a player plays a lot,
09:12this gives him consistency, self-confidence.
09:15Usually if I talk to players that I don't play every single time,
09:18it's mostly their answer is,
09:20yeah, but I need to play every single minute,
09:22that gives me more confidence and I can bring the most out of myself.
09:25And now you say the opposite.
09:27So the reason why I haven't tried Hugo a lot of times off the left is an obvious one,
09:34because of the Alexander Isak situation,
09:39that he's either not been available or not been available to start every single game.
09:43And Rio has had his minutes, but I think for a 17-year-old,
09:49he's already had much more minutes than any other 17-year-old at any other club in the Premier League.
09:55So that's positive for him,
09:59and I don't think Cody suffers from the fact that he doesn't have competition,
10:05because there are players that can play in his position.
10:09And usually, like I just said, players prefer to have a situation
10:13where they have the confidence and the understanding that they might play many minutes.
10:23Hi, Arne, this is Balerlinger from the Hungarian sports media.
10:27I would like to ask you about Dominic.
10:29You said before that he's more of a midfielder than a winger or a right-back,
10:35but he plays more, looking for roles.
10:38How do you plan to maximise his influence in the central area against Cates?
10:43Will he play in the central area?
10:45In the long-term he will play in the central area, that's for sure.
10:48Maybe also in the mid-term and maybe even tomorrow.
10:51But he is one of the few players that can play in multiple positions,
10:56and unfortunately for us we've had injuries in certain positions,
11:01not one, but both full-backs are injured for a long time,
11:06not a long time, for a few weeks already,
11:09and in the start of the season as well.
11:11So that's why I used him in different positions,
11:15and he did well, by the way, in every position he played in.
11:20In the last two games he's been very important for the team
11:24in the role he had because, like I just said,
11:27he's part of a team that was only one deflection away from two clean sheets,
11:32and he had a free role of the right,
11:36so still he's a lot of times in the middle.
11:39I think if you look at his position in the first half
11:41compared to the second half against Sunderland,
11:43I think a heat map will show that he was nine out of ten times
11:48in the same position in the first half as he was in the second half,
11:51where in the second half he played as a midfielder,
11:54and in the first half he played as an inverted winger.
11:57So, yeah, we can use him in every position,
12:01but for the mid- and long-term, and maybe even for the short-term,
12:04we will use him in the middle, if we have no injuries.
12:10That's what I have to include to it.
12:12Hi, Anna.
12:13After scoring his first Premier League goal,
12:15Alcantar being that was a bit of a straight night for him,
12:18the other night he didn't have too many chances,
12:20how do you get the best out of him consistently,
12:22how do you get him those chances,
12:24especially when teams are playing low and hard to break down?
12:28I think he's not the only one, number nine,
12:32that suffers in some games from not getting as many chances.
12:35I watched the second half till now from Leeds against City,
12:41and I watched the whole game against Chelsea,
12:44and it's not like at this level the number nine is involved in eight,
12:49nine, ten chances every single half.
12:51But it's obvious and clear to me that we as a team want to bring him more often
12:58in threatening situations.
13:01Before we went to only one goal conceded in two games,
13:06we had a lot of chances the last two games as a result,
13:09because we were a little bit more compact and maybe take a little bit less risk,
13:13we haven't been able to create that many chances as we did all the games before.
13:18So it's definitely one of the things on my list of things to improve,
13:25is getting our number nine more involved in the game,
13:29let alone more involved in the final first.
13:32I think he's average 14 touches in this past three starts,
13:35is that something that you want, is that ideal for you?
13:39No, it's not ideal for me, no.
13:41But do you know how much he had at Newcastle on average?
13:44I'm not too sure.
13:45No, 22.
13:46So in this league strikers don't touch the ball that much,
13:51but the few times they do touch it,
13:53it's quite nice if they then finish it off.
13:55I have no clue what the stats of Haaland are,
13:58but I wouldn't be surprised, I have no clue,
14:01if he maybe doesn't touch it a hundred times a game.
14:05But he does score a lot, so it's more important for them to touch the ball
14:09in the right time than to touch it so many times.
14:13And we have to make sure, because that's the complete difference between Haaland and Alec,
14:18that Haaland touches it much more in moments where it matters.
14:23And there we have to improve, that's clear and obvious.
14:26We, and he as well.
14:29Just to ask you about Harvey Elliott's situation,
14:32he's not featured in the last few months at Aston Villa.
14:35Have you had any contact with him?
14:37Has there been any discussions at all about him potentially coming back to the club
14:40and that arrangement being kind of shelved?
14:43No, I haven't had contact with him a lot.
14:46I think only once or twice, and that was before he played Feyenoord away
14:50and after he played Feyenoord away, but that had nothing to do with,
14:57that had more to do with that he played against a former club of mine.
15:00So no, I haven't spoken to him.
15:03I am aware of his situation, of course.
15:05I knew how difficult it already was for him over here,
15:09so I think I know how he feels at this moment,
15:14but you should ask those questions at Villa and not over here,
15:21when it's about his playing time over here.
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