Slot not pleased with performance after 4-1 Barnsley FA Cup win

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00:00Arne, how do you support the performance tonight?

00:05Good win. That's not performance, but that's result.

00:10We wanted to go into the next round, that's what we did.

00:13Four beautiful goals, shot from outside the box.

00:18It's not always easy to unlock a low block for any team in the world,

00:22but definitely also not for us.

00:24So you have a few weapons to do so, set pieces,

00:27as we see so many times, especially in the Premier League.

00:29A shot from outside the box, a 1v1.

00:32We saw today a shot from outside the box and a 1v1 from Jeremy Frimpong.

00:37And in the end we saw with the third one some individual skills

00:44from Curtis, Hugo and Flo, which led to a good goal.

00:48So yeah, some good goals.

00:52Overall, did you feel it was a good job done or did you expect a little bit more?

00:57No, I think it's every home game the same.

01:01So yeah, you see a team in red that's constantly in ball position.

01:07Obviously, what happened with the Bronzer goal as well,

01:12Dominic obviously says he apologises for his mistake as well,

01:16but you've spoken to him as he said what was going through his mind at that point,

01:20what he was thinking and what have you said to him?

01:23No.

01:24No, I fought a lot in that moment.

01:27I fought a lot towards half-time, but I chose to inform them

01:31in the best possible way for us to be more fluid, more tempo,

01:35more able to create chances, which didn't work out that well

01:39because, again, second half we created a few chances, but not a lot.

01:44I have my opinion about that, which I'm definitely going to share with him.

01:49And it's not the first time, and I'm talking generally, that we are 2-0 up.

01:54There's nothing, no problems in the game, and then we concede a sloppy or an easy goal.

02:00But this one stands definitely out, even for us,

02:03when it is about conceding an easy and sloppy goal.

02:07Is that something that's holding you back at times? Is it a lapse in concentration?

02:12No, it doesn't help to concede a goal if you're 2-0 up.

02:15I think normally when you're 2-0 up the other team is close to maybe accepting their loss,

02:21especially if you can keep going and have the ball so much,

02:23then usually teams are, we're 2-0 down, we hardly touch the ball,

02:26now we're probably not as aggressive in defending,

02:29and then you can score the third and the fourth.

02:31But if you then give away an easy goal, as we've done so many times this season,

02:34then it's a big difference in mindset for the other team with a 2-0 down

02:37and never have the ball, or they're 2-1 and never have the ball,

02:40because then they do feel, in the first half when we never had the ball,

02:44in one moment we could score a goal, so maybe we can do this again.

02:48So, yeah, it's definitely not helpful for us.

02:51Even tonight we could see a lot of things being the same as we've seen so many times this season.

03:00They obviously felt they could have had a penalty,

03:02I just wonder what you felt about that appeal,

03:04whether you had any concerns at that moment that a penalty could be given?

03:08No, there was no VAR, so when he gives it, even if he would have made a mistake,

03:14it was not a possibility to correct it.

03:17From what's been told to me, it wasn't a penalty and Dominic played the ball,

03:22but I have to see it back to give you my own opinion, this is the opinion of other people.

03:27I've seen Thursday evening things twice in Arsenal's box that were more a penalty than this one,

03:37when I just looked at it in the eye without seeing it on video.

03:40But I could even live with the fact that we didn't get one against Arsenal.

03:45Although this season we've conceded penalties, referees have given penalties against us,

03:50even after VAR interventions in incidents that were less than the two incidents that happened at Arsenal,

03:58but I could live with the outcome at Arsenal and I could live with the outcome today.

04:02I assume and think and expect it's cramp.

04:07So it tells Rio that I expect that the Premier League game is more intense than this one,

04:15that it's very nice for him to again make 70 minutes,

04:20but that it's still very hard work to be ready for 90 in the Premier League.

04:25But that's completely normal for a 17-year-old, make no mistake about that.

04:29It's already great for him and for Liverpool and for where he is following us,

04:33that a 17-year-old makes so many minutes in a Liverpool shirt.

04:36So let's hope he can continue and we can bring him further and further

04:41towards 90 minutes at Premier League.

04:44Bringing on Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekotique,

04:50I guess you obviously felt the two you needed to have them there,

04:55but also is it very important to have that strength and depth

04:58and have those players that you could get to see it through in the end?

05:03Yeah, it's for every team very important to have strength and depth in your squad.

05:08We could see it when we played Arsenal, when they made their five substitutions.

05:12Today I mixed the line-up a little bit, it wasn't as Plymouth last season,

05:19it wasn't as Crystal Palace this season for the League Cup.

05:25One, because we take this competition very seriously.

05:29Second of all, because I didn't also have the possibilities to do so,

05:33because I couldn't make 11 substitutions.

05:36I could, but then I had to look at the under-21s and the under-18s.

05:41But I think it showed tonight that we needed a lot of first-team players to win this game.

05:50So I think, not that it's a compliment to myself,

05:53but I think I made the right decision to play a lot of starters as well.

05:58But I also had no other opportunity.

06:01Although I could have played four or five under-21 players,

06:05but I chose not to do so.

06:07Just a quick word on Barnsley.

06:10They came in from League One and made life tough for you.

06:13Were you impressed with their resilience for most of that game?

06:15Yeah, of course.

06:16I think they can be proud of themselves, how they did

06:19and how difficult they made it for us.

06:21A game plan that looked very similar to a lot of teams that are coming here.

06:28How many games did we play this season?

06:31Probably around 30.

06:34I think 28 of my pre-match meetings I could just throw in the bin.

06:38I think only once or twice the team did what they did the 20 weeks before.

06:47Arsenal was one of them.

06:49They just played against us what we're used to.

06:52But Barnsley always plays a 4-3-3 and today decided to go with five,

06:57which I can completely understand,

06:59which I would have done when I was their manager as well.

07:02But another time a meeting that you try to show them what they can expect,

07:09what to expect, what they usually do.

07:12But yeah, they did something different and by doing that

07:15they made it really difficult for us.

07:17So compliments for their game plan and compliments for the desire they had

07:22and the willingness they had to fight for results.

07:25And for a long time they were in the game,

07:28because I think it was the 80th minute or something like that.

07:31Maybe later when we scored the 3-1, I think even later.

07:3584 I think, somewhere like that.

07:37So yeah, that's a compliment to them.

07:40I think it's the second time in the season that you've won a game by three or more goals.

07:45And it probably could have been a little bit more comfortable had that error not happened.

07:49I mean, you've spoken about not just John but across the team,

07:52there's maybe been some errors this season.

07:54How do you go about trying to pop that out of people's games?

07:59It must be quite frustrating for you when you're seeing that quite regularly.

08:03Yeah, but I can tell you that it's not the only frustration I have.

08:08But definitely we make it difficult for ourselves in moments like this.

08:16And not only for ourselves, I think.

08:21Again, there were 60,000 fans tonight showing up, supporting us.

08:27And I would have loved and the players would have loved to give them probably not a 2-1

08:33waiting until the 83rd minute before his 3-1.

08:36But yeah, it did happen and that is something I would love to see differently.

08:44Again, I think we tried.

08:46Yeah, not that it's a compliment for us, but we had the ball.

08:49What else can you do than having the ball?

08:51Yeah, creating chances.

08:53Yeah, that's one.

08:55Just checking, Kopsi from the first time, Kopsi's kind of draft,

08:58is there a notice?

08:59How has he been behind the scenes?

09:01Is it obviously a massive goal for him and for you in the second half of the season?

09:06Yeah, first of all, let's talk about him.

09:10Because Trent is leaving and Conor Braddy already replaced him last season a few times really well.

09:18And I think the year before our game also had a good spell.

09:22So I think he felt, and I felt the same, this is now going to be your time.

09:28And then he missed out on so many games because of injury already, because of mainly hamstring injuries.

09:33Coming back from that, being in the team, progressing, doing better and better, staying fit.

09:40And then something like this happens.

09:42So in a season where he thought before it started, this has to be my season.

09:48And I thought the same.

09:50To maybe play six, seven or eight games is a big, big, big blow for him.

09:56And I also think about Northern Ireland where he's trying to reach the World Cup.

10:02So it's an enormous blow for him.

10:05But as a result of that, it's a big blow for us as well.

10:08Because I hope that you don't think that I would like to play Dominic Slobos-Lay as a right full-back.

10:15But Jeremy Frimpong has to play a lot of minutes.

10:18Comes also back from an injury.

10:20Has missed out three, four months of a lot of playing time.

10:24So I liked him again today, by the way.

10:28But yeah, I have to make sure that he's able to play again in the weekend.

10:33And then we go to Marseille and then we go to Bournemouth.

10:36And it's nine games in January with six defenders available.

10:45So I have to manage it in the right way.

10:48And I have to give enormous compliments to the players that are fit,

10:52that we are 11 games unbeaten already.

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