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Liverpool manager Arne Slot on the fitness of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong and the threat West Ham could pose as they try to quality for the Champions League next season
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Just to check on teams, Jeremy Frumppong, Florian Verts, are they likely to be available?
00:06Jeremy is, he trained with us a few times this week, so he is available.
00:13I don't expect Florian to be available, so that's a disappointment.
00:20Of course, every time when a player is not available is a disappointment,
00:23and also something I didn't expect after last week, but that's sometimes how things can evolve,
00:31and unfortunately this time not in a positive way.
00:33How is it looking for Florian, have you gotten ideas?
00:36No, at this moment of time, no.
00:38And usually when I say that I do have that, I do know that, but I don't want to share
00:42it.
00:42But now I honestly don't know.
00:45It's a real shame to get into a rhythm as well, isn't it?
00:51Yeah, he has that rhythm, of course.
00:54It's, in my opinion, already a big accomplishment of him,
00:58that he stayed fit for such a long time because he had to make a step
01:03from where he played towards Liverpool, towards the Premier League,
01:09and that he stayed fit all the time tells you a lot about the mentality
01:13and the work rate of a player and about the performance staff.
01:17But unfortunately last week and this week he's not available,
01:20and that's indeed a disappointment for him,
01:22but definitely also for us because he played really, really, really well lately.
01:28We can build this up and say obviously you can go level on points for United,
01:32it's a chance to put pressure on them in the race for Champions League qualification,
01:35at least ask the question of them and ask them to respond to that.
01:39You could even go with a big win ahead of them as well, we can build it up like that.
01:43How do you see it?
01:47The way I see it is that it's not a game for us,
01:50and we're not so focused on other teams as all managers always say.
01:56We are mainly focused on ourselves and we know that we need to win a lot of games,
02:00because our competitors for these Champions League places are very good teams as well, win a lot.
02:06So we know we have to win a lot as well, and that's where our focus is on.
02:12And not so much about points, gaps, all the differences,
02:16although we are aware of the league table, that's for sure.
02:20It's a bit of a strange one, a strange stat this, for Mo,
02:24because I appreciate obviously he scored against Carabao,
02:26he scored in the FA Cup against Brighton as well,
02:28but it's nine Premier League games since he last scored,
02:32and that was against Aston Villa on the 1st of November.
02:34What do you put that run down to when it comes to Mo?
02:37He's had opportunities obviously, but at the time not quite.
02:40Yeah.
02:42He set his own standards, and those are so, so, so high
02:46that the moment when he doesn't score for a few games
02:49people are immediately surprised,
02:52so that is only something that's probably the biggest compliment he can get.
02:56Yeah, and then with data you can use it in your advantage or your disadvantage,
03:00so not to use the FA Cup game if we play a Premier League side,
03:04you can argue if that is fair.
03:08But yeah, that's the way it works.
03:10If we want to highlight something really positive,
03:12we try to forget one or two games.
03:14If we want to highlight something really negative,
03:16we can try to forget one or two games as well.
03:18For me, I think it was quite recently, three games ago,
03:22that he had an assist and a goal against the Premier League side, Brighton.
03:27That's a very good Premier League team for so many years already.
03:30So that's the reality, and yeah, then you can change data
03:35and saying he did not score in nine Premier League games.
03:39And that's the standard he set for himself,
03:41that's why people are surprised when things like that happen.
03:46Just to go on with that, is he playing then at the level that you want him to be,
03:52or that he wants to be?
03:54Nah, I think then I should go really detailed into his performances,
04:00and that's something we do together,
04:02and maybe it's not the place and time to do it over here.
04:05We are used to Mo scoring a lot of goals,
04:08and that's at this moment of time maybe the biggest difference in his performances
04:12or in his game time.
04:15But we also know, even in my time, this has happened before,
04:18I don't know exactly if it happened nine games in a row,
04:22but I've had these questions earlier,
04:24he didn't score for three, he didn't score for five,
04:26or I don't know exact numbers.
04:27But I also know that in the end he always starts scoring again.
04:32And that's the challenge he has now and we have now,
04:35to make sure he starts scoring again,
04:37because he's not our only attacker,
04:41that at this moment of time doesn't score as much as we are used to of our attackers.
04:47So it's not only the focus he deserved that is totally on him,
04:52because of everything he did for the club,
04:54but Hugo and Godi haven't scored that many goals recently as well.
04:58So it's again a team thing that we have to improve,
05:01the good thing is that we keep clean sheets,
05:04so that means they don't need to score that many.
05:07Although against Cadabac we scored six,
05:09and there was another game that we scored four,
05:11I don't even remember, but which one?
05:14Newcastle.
05:14Newcastle, aye.
05:16Let's go to the end of the pitch then, shall we?
05:18Talk about that, back-to-back, all-mil wins.
05:21Alisson actually made his debut against West Ham,
05:23we talked about Alisson just more than seven years ago since he did that.
05:27Just to talk about him, I suppose, how important is he still for you right now
05:33and in terms of his future here at Liverpool?
05:37In an ideal world you don't need your goalkeeper,
05:40so that means you defend so well that you don't need a goalkeeper
05:44that makes important saves for you.
05:45But the good thing for us is that if we do need a goalkeeper,
05:50we have an outstanding one.
05:52We already have him now for seven years, which he just told me.
05:55Seven years ago he made his debut.
05:58And the good thing is that we not only have one good goalkeeper,
06:02we have with Giorgi Mardesvili also a goalkeeper that could be a number one.
06:06So this club is in a really good place when it comes to goalkeepers
06:09and has been for so many years,
06:11because before Giorgi was there we had Quif and he did really well for us
06:16and now for Brentford.
06:19But Ali has always been the number one and that tells you how good he is
06:22if he can keep Quif and Giorgi behind him.
06:28So yeah, we needed him once against Forrest after three minutes
06:35and again he was there for us.
06:39Arne, I was going to ask you what you were expecting from West Ham,
06:42but I guess after playing a team near the bottom of the table last week
06:46against Nottingham Forest we saw how tough that game was.
06:49I'm guessing you were expecting the same this weekend?
06:52Yeah, because data sometimes tells you something that's right
06:58and sometimes you can manipulate it,
07:00but I cannot manipulate the fact that we struggled a lot
07:03against the teams that promoted Burnley at home, Leeds at home,
07:08and I probably forget one or two.
07:10So we understand at this moment of time how difficult winning games in general is,
07:19it doesn't matter where they're positioned in the league table,
07:22that's the current Premier League, but that's not only for us.
07:24I watch a lot of games, as any manager does,
07:27before you play a team you watch four or five games,
07:30or maybe sometimes more, sometimes a little bit less.
07:32And I can tell you that we're not the only team that sometimes plays
07:36a half of football that we played in the first half against Forrest.
07:42But that's also the quality you face.
07:46You have to give credit to Forrest for the way they played in the first half.
07:49And that is new reality in the Premier League,
07:53probably for the last one, two, three years.
07:56Before that it was maybe a bit more obvious which were the top teams,
07:59and they were always beat the others.
08:01Recently you see a change in that,
08:03and that has probably a lot to do with all the money that goes into the league,
08:07and I think that these teams also have owners who can spend a lot of money.
08:13You won at West Ham earlier this season,
08:14how significant was that win if you think back to it?
08:18Because I think it came after a run of defeats,
08:20and then that win seemed to set you down when you went on a good run after that.
08:25Yeah, I don't only think that it came after a run of bad results,
08:28but it came after a run of a lot of bad results,
08:33where a few of them were very unlucky.
08:34I think it was the game after we played Leeds away,
08:37where we were 2-0 up, 3-2 up,
08:39so that has been our whole season.
08:41But it was an important win over there.
08:44A good win, we played well, as we did so many times,
08:47but this time it also resulted in a win.
08:50And from that moment onwards we've only lost twice,
08:54and twice worse in extra time.
08:57But that's not something new for us this season.
09:00But the good thing is, last week of course we scored an extra time.
09:04So maybe things have changed, finally.
09:10There's been a lot of focus on Rio after his substitute form at Coruscant at the weekend.
09:17He's not started in Premier League again this season,
09:19so I'm just wondering how much closer does he do to get into that point,
09:24and what does he need to do to try and achieve that?
09:30Yeah, another great example of how you can manipulate data,
09:35only talking about Premier League games,
09:38not talking about FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League,
09:40so only taking that and then say he only played 90 minutes Premier League,
09:44where I think if you want to be more realistic,
09:49or you just tell the truth, that's sometimes nice as well.
09:57Then you see that his playing time has improved massively over the last few weeks,
10:03and that's the reason for that, because he developed,
10:05he became a better player.
10:06And I think it's only very positive that people start to talk about him,
10:09because that tells you that he does really well.
10:12And I would love people to talk about all the players I have on the bench like that,
10:17because that means every time I bring them in they do really well.
10:20And that's something we like, and it's another example of a player that developed in the last six, seven or
10:27eight months
10:27towards a player that people want to see more and more.
10:30And the same goes for me, because I play him more and more recently,
10:35and that's all due to the fact that he does well when he comes in.
10:39And of course the highlight was completely on his great 1v1 action,
10:44and it should be because I've sat here many times telling how difficult it is to beat one-on-one,
10:49and how important that is in football.
10:53But he had a few other actions in that game as well,
10:56and a few other moments in that game as well where we also talk about,
10:59and where maybe pundits don't talk about that much.
11:02But that's part of the development of a player,
11:05and I really like where he's at at the moment where he is in his development,
11:10and I would be surprised if he stays fit, if not more minutes will come in the near future.
11:18Hi, Annette. I wanted to ask you about the fact that you talked about switching off
11:24in the final minutes against Boris.
11:26Was it a physical issue, something with his performance,
11:30or just a technical change, but most importantly,
11:33can any of this affect his involvement against Boris?
11:42No, he was completely fit, he played already 80 minutes,
11:47and we had to defend quite a bit in the first half,
11:49so I brought a fresh player in, and that's also a very good player with Robertson.
11:54I changed my both wingers, and I changed both full-backs,
11:58to hopefully get that fresh energy for the last 10-15 minutes.
12:05And that's the good thing about having more than 11 players.
12:10And if I'm able to make those changes, not in every position I can make those changes,
12:15but if I can, and I think it's necessary, I do so.
12:20But Mila's played an OK game, and he's available for tomorrow.
12:27There's always been quite a lot of late drama in your game this season.
12:31In terms of goals in the second half,
12:34there's a big difference between the goals in the first half,
12:36and the second half in the second half,
12:39but in terms of starting games a bit more slowly,
12:42what do you put that down to?
12:43Is it a position, is it the approach?
12:48That's never the approach.
12:52If you would just look at our game backs,
12:54you'd never see us dropping into a low block,
12:57which so many teams in the Premier League do.
12:59But we never do.
13:00Nah, if I say never, then people can find one example maybe.
13:04But every time we try to press for 90 minutes as high as possible,
13:08and when we have the ball, we try to create.
13:10But that's sometimes difficult against teams that play in a certain style.
13:14I will not describe that style.
13:19And as a result of that, you usually see a second half being a bit more open.
13:23Why?
13:24Because both teams get a bit more tired,
13:27and that can sometimes lead to gaps or openings,
13:31and then all of a sudden we can then score our goals.
13:36But it's never down to our approach.
13:39We've seen many times when we played, for example, at Anfield,
13:43that the approach of the other team,
13:44so when I had to play at Anfield,
13:46when I was at Feyenoord or another club and I never played here,
13:48I would 100 per cent tell my players,
13:51try to slow the game down in the first 15 to 20 minutes,
13:54because you don't want the fans to go behind the team.
13:57So take your time in throw-ins, take your time in set-pieces,
14:00do all the things to slow it down, to calm the fans down.
14:03And that's what I think I see other teams trying to do as well,
14:08which is completely fair.
14:10And it's up to us to still find moments when we then have the ball to be able to create,
14:16but that is against a team that is completely fit, ready to compete,
14:21more difficult than after 70 minutes when the other team is maybe a bit more tired.
14:28Hi, Arne. I wanted to ask you about Hugo Ekiteke.
14:31You scored two-headed goals so far this season,
14:34but going right back to the first game in the Community Shield,
14:37there were quite a few opportunities to maybe increase that talent.
14:40I wonder, considering the improved safety guidelines around heading and training,
14:46things like that, is it more difficult in the modern era for a player to improve and improve quickly in
14:51that particular era?
14:55No, I don't think so.
14:57It's right, it's true that when I played, and that's a long, long, long time ago,
15:02we probably had some time there was a ball hanging on a row
15:06and you had to add that ball 150 times to try to work on your technique.
15:11I think modern ways of training would probably not use that anymore
15:15because it's so isolated that you can argue if you can improve in that manner.
15:21But it is true that what you are noticing, we are noticing as well,
15:25and he notices this himself also.
15:27I'm working with players that always want to develop,
15:30so this is one of his points that he wants and tries to develop,
15:33and where we do work on, not every single day,
15:37because that's not possible for other reasons than safety cards.
15:43But it's a part of his game that we, but also he himself, wants to develop,
15:49because he could have scored a few more goals indeed,
15:51if he would have been better in that part of the game.
15:55But being 22-23, I think it's quite normal that there are always parts of the game that you can
16:02improve,
16:04and this for him is one of them.
16:09I've seen a lot of calls for Rio to play a little bit more since Sunday,
16:14and obviously a lot of excitement around him has developed.
16:17How do you think it's much more difficult for you to manage him in that situation,
16:22just the excitement around him?
16:24No, it's totally not difficult because of how he is.
16:28And that's something special for a 17-year-old to be hyped like he is.
16:34Not only now, but I think this is throughout his whole career,
16:38which is not so long.
16:42There's been a lot of talks about him,
16:43because we can all see how special he is and his talent.
16:48And he's handling that situation really well,
16:50so that's a big compliment to him, but probably to his parents as well,
16:53who raised him, that he's down to earth, works really hard,
16:59just keeps going and doesn't lose his head
17:01because one or two pundits had a positive feedback about his game.
17:07And that is something I think you also need if you want to make the next steps,
17:11because if you also already start to believe how special you are
17:14after one or two remarks from pundits,
17:17that's probably not the way to become the player he wants to become.
17:20So he's down to earth, works really hard,
17:26also understands which part of the game he has to improve,
17:29which is even more normal for a 17-year-old.
17:31But we have to keep his special quality,
17:33and that's beating players in 1v1s.
17:35And that's not 10 out of 10 times working,
17:38and it doesn't have to be working 10 out of 10 times,
17:40but he has to keep on trying,
17:42because there are not many players in modern football
17:47that can take on 1v1s on a regular basis
17:52in being successful and outplaying their opponents a lot of times.
17:57So that is a quality that is special,
17:59and that's why we also want to take so good care of him,
18:03because we have a lot of belief in how special he is.
18:10Thank you very much.
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