Pre-match press conference with Liverpool head coach Arne Slot ahead of Leeds United v Liverpool in the Premier League at Elland Road.
Slot reflects on taking four points from the last two matches, stressing Liverpool were “one deflection away” from two clean sheets and pleased they have stopped conceding from set pieces. He highlights improved consistency from summer signings, picking out Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez, and notes Alex’s first goal as further progress in recent weeks.
He discusses benching Mohamed Salah in the last two games, insisting “Mo has been such an exceptional player for us” and is “always in my mind” whether starting or coming from the bench. Slot talks up Leeds’ aggressive style after their win over Chelsea, expecting a physical test in a hostile atmosphere at Elland Road, and underlines that Liverpool’s “first aim” is to climb back into the top four in an increasingly competitive Premier League.
There are updates on the squad with Conor Bradley back in training and Joe Gomez expected to train after a knock, plus praise for Federico Chiesa’s impact from the bench, Cody Gakpo’s workload in the forward line and Dominik Szoboszlai’s versatility, with Slot confirming that in the long term Szoboszlai will play centrally. He also admits Liverpool must create more chances for their number nine and compares his involvement to Erling Haaland’s, saying the key is for strikers to touch the ball “in moments where it matters”.
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00:00What steps do you feel you've taken in the past week with four points from a couple of games just to start turning things around?
00:13No, the first thing you said in your question, four points out of two games are different.
00:18The last two home games we've played, which we've both lost and conceded seven goals.
00:24In 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. They did not score the only chance they had.
00:44You'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.
00:52So 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.
01:05And 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.
01:31But there are also, 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.
01:43Probably expected that with Mo being benched two games, you would expect a lot of chat about him.
01:49But 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 could become more limited
02:04when he's obviously not away at AFCOT?
02:06No, but I think for every player is in my mind to start a game of football,
02:13because we have so many good players and Mo has been such an exceptional player for us.
02:18So, he's always, I don't know which word he used, but he's always in my mind to either start or to coming.
02:30Can you understand all the chat around him though?
02:33Yeah, of course.
02:35Maybe he even deserves that because he's been so influential for this club and for me
02:42and for his teammates for six or seven years, I think, already.
02:47So, yeah, it's completely normal.
02:49If I don't play players that just came to the club, we're already talking about it.
02:53So, then it's completely normal that people talk about it when he isn't playing.
03:00And the test you face against Leeds, obviously we've seen them cause Manchester City problems.
03:04They've beaten Chelsea in the past week.
03:06What do you make there for 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.
03:13Well, yesterday I looked at Leeds-Chelsea and I saw a Liverpool game.
03:20Chelsea conceding a set piece and for the third goal making a big, big, big error where they conceded a goal from.
03:29Very difficult for them because either Leeds went very aggressive to 1v1 or 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 when they were 2-0 down coming back to 2-2.
03:53Eventually, Foden made the difference with a moment of magic for City.
04:01And against Chelsea they were really strong.
04:04Played a very good game.
04:05Really aggressive.
04:06A lot of long balls as well from their goalkeeper.
04:11So, we know what to expect.
04:13But what to expect is probably what we've faced.
04:17Not all of the games, maybe with the exception of two.
04:20Sure.
04:21Are you expecting it to be quite a physical test in what is probably going to be quite a hostile stadium?
04:30Yeah.
04:31Yeah, we do.
04:32But 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 playing in the Premier League.
04:46So, yeah, every game you play is a physical test, let alone an away game with, indeed,
04:54as I know and you probably even know better than me, the fans that are a big support for them.
05:00Despite the difficulties you had this season, you're two points off the top four.
05:05I'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.
05:13As it already was last season, but 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.
05:55Oh, okay.
05:56I learned something today.
05:59As I just said, every player has a possibility to start.
06:05But we have many options to start in his position, as I said so many times before.
06:13But he's indeed having his impact coming off the bench a few times.
06:17So, normally 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,
06:30I 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.
06:45And where is Florian Wurt's confidence at at the moment?
06:48Obviously, he made a vital contribution to the goal the other night,
06:51but still doesn't have a goal to his name yet.
06:53No.
06:54No, but if you can only have confidence if you score goals, that would be the wrong thing.
07:00I think you can see where his confidence is at.
07:03If you look at the last two games, how many times he wants the ball
07:06and how many times his teammates play him the ball.
07:10And 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.
07:21And so 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, not the only one,
07:41one of the players who kept constantly trying and was creative.
07:49Can I just check on team news?
07:53Do you expect Conor Bradley to be back and forth?
07:55Did everyone get through the Sunderland game okay?
07:57Yeah, they did.
07:59Joe Gomez got a knock in the West Ham game but was still able to start.
08:07But he couldn't make the full 90 minutes.
08:10But I think he will be able to train again today.
08:12So yesterday was a recovery day for most of them.
08:15Today we will train again and let's see where they are.
08:18But Conor Bradley has trained this week so I expect him to train today and then he is available to be in the squad tomorrow.
08:26Hi Arlene, I wanted to ask you about Cody Gatpo.
08:28I mean think back to last season when he was at his best.
08:32He was in a fierce battle for his base with Luis Diaz.
08:34Even when they lined up together there was a chance that one of the other strikers would come on and Luis Diaz would go out to the left.
08:40I think if you look in Premier League and Champions League last season, Cody played the full 90 only six times.
08:46Whereas already this season he has played 10 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 Reketike tried off the left as we heard that may well be an option.
08:58Do you think Cody is maybe suffering a little bit from not having that razor-sharp competition for his starting place?
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, this gives him consistency, self-confidence.
09:15Usually if I talk to players that I don't play every single time, it's mostly their answer is yeah, 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 Alex and Rizak situation that he's either not been available or not been available to start every single game.
09:44And Rio has had his minutes, but I think for a 17-year-old he's already had much more minutes than any other 17-year-old at any other club in the Premier League.
09:57So that's positive for him and I don't think Cody suffers from the fact that he doesn't have competition because there are players that can play in his position.
10:10And usually, like I just said, players prefer to have a situation where they have the confidence and the understanding that they might play many minutes.
10:23Hi, Arne, this is Valerkinge from the Hungarian Sports Media. I 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, but he plays for roles.
10:38How do you plan to maximize his influence in the central area against this? Will he play in the central area?
10:45In the long term, he will play in the central area. Yeah, that's for sure. Maybe also in the midterm and maybe even tomorrow.
10:52But he is one of the few players that can play in multiple positions.
10:57And unfortunately for us, we've had injuries in certain positions, not one, but then like to both fullbacks are injured for a long time, a long time, for a few weeks already.
11:09And in the start of the season as well. So that's why I used him in different positions and 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 in the role he had, because like I just said, he's part of a team that only conceded, that was only one deflection away from two clean sheets.
11:34And he had a free role of the right, so still he's a lot of times in the middle.
11:39I think if you look at his positioning in the first half compared to the second half against Sunderland, I think a heat map will show that he was nine out of ten times in the same position in the first half as he was in the second half.
11:52In the second half he played as a midfielder and the first half he played as an inverted winger.
11:58So yeah, we can use him in every position, but for the mid and long term, and maybe for the short term, we will use him in the middle.
12:07Alright, thank you.
12:09If we have no injuries, that I have to include to it.
12:12Hi Arne. After scoring his first Premier goal, Alexander Wiesach was a bit of a straight knife for him.
12:18The other nine served and didn't have too many chances. How do you get the best out of them consistently?
12:22How do you get the most chances, especially when teams are playing low and hard to break down?
12:28I think he's not the only one, number nine, that suffers in some games from not getting as many chances.
12:37I watched the second half till now from Leeds against City and I watched the whole game against Chelsea.
12:45And it's not like at this level the number nine is involved in eight, nine, ten chances every single half.
12:52So, but it's obvious and clear to me that we as a team want to bring him more often in threatening situations.
13:02Before we went to only one goal conceded in two games, we had a lot of chances.
13:08The last two games as a result, because we were a little bit more compact and maybe take a little bit less risk.
13:14We haven't been able to create that many chances as we did all the games before.
13:21So, it's definitely one of the things on my list of things to improve is getting our number nine more involved in the game,
13:29let alone more involved in the final first.
13:33He's averaged 14 touches in this past three starts. Is that something that you might, is that ideal for you at the moment?
13:40No, it's not ideal for me, no. But do you know how much he had at Newcastle on average?
13:45Not too sure.
13:4622.
13:4722.
13:48So, in this league, strikers don't touch the ball that much, but the few times they do touch it, it's quite nice if they then finish it off.
13:56I have no clue what the stats of Haaland are, but I wouldn't be surprised.
14:01I have no clue if he maybe doesn't touch it a hundred times a game, but he does score a lot.
14:07So, it's more important for them to touch the ball in 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, that Haaland touches it much more in moments where it matters.
14:23And there we have to improve. That's clear and obvious. We, and he as well.
14:28Just to ask you about Harvey Elliott's situation. He's not featured in the last few months at Aston Villa.
14:35Have you had any contact with him? Has there been any discussions at all about him potentially coming back to the club and that arrangement being kind of shelved?
14:44No, I haven't had contact with him a lot. I think only once or twice, and that was after, before he played Feyenoord away and after he played Feyenoord away.
14:55But that had nothing to do with, that had more to do with that he played against a former club of mine.
15:01So, no, I haven't spoken to him. I am aware of his situation, of course.
15:06I knew how difficult it already was for him over here, so I can, I think I know how he feels at this moment.
15:14But, yeah, you should ask those questions at Villa and not over here when it's about his playing time over there.
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