Arne Slot on Liverpool's FA Cup trip to Wolves

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Arne Slot on Liverpool's FA Cup trip to Wolves  05/03/2026  AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK

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00:00Yeah, I would think so. It's a lovely day, isn't it?

00:03That's for sure, yeah.

00:06Varno, good morning.

00:08Have you had time to analyse that defeat on Tuesday?

00:13How will it have an impact on Friday, if at all?

00:18How did I have time?

00:20Yes, you must have had time to analyse it.

00:22Yeah, for sure, but I have time after every game to analyse it,

00:25and that's what we did this time again as well.

00:29A game which was not so difficult to analyse,

00:32a lot of ball possession for us,

00:35without being able to create a lot of chances,

00:37not for the first time this season,

00:40that has happened to us,

00:42but enough chances, because I watched quite a lot of football,

00:46to win the game,

00:49which we didn't win the game of course,

00:52we didn't convert it into goals,

00:54and then, also not for the first time this season,

00:58maybe their first shot on target, I'm not sure,

01:00but the first attack they had led to a goal.

01:04And that was also the moment when we started to realise,

01:07OK, maybe we have to bring even more than we did before,

01:11and from that moment on we generated quite a lot of chances from the ball possession we had.

01:18Scored, missed a few others,

01:20and then as so many times this season, in extra time,

01:24a shot from outside the box, which in this situation was deflected, went in,

01:27and then you go away with a loss.

01:32And that was hard to take,

01:34but we are one day before another very important game for us,

01:39so we've analysed it, we know we have to be better tomorrow,

01:45and that's also what we're going to try to be.

01:47I know you've made reference to the night of the game,

01:51conceding late goals is a worry,

01:53it must become something of a real concern losing games so late on.

01:58How do you manage that?

01:59Do you have to change an approach mentally?

02:02No, it's a real concern if you lose,

02:06and if you lose many times in the same manner it's even more a concern,

02:13but the way we concede goals in these last minutes are not always similar.

02:19Sometimes it's a set-piece,

02:21now and against Fulham a boss' shot from outside the box,

02:25those are not big chances you give away,

02:28so you always try to prevent the other team from getting big chances,

02:31this is what we do in general quite well,

02:35but unfortunately for us it has led to two goals conceded.

02:42Is it our approach?

02:43Not too sure about that,

02:45because yes, we want to win that game,

02:48and I think that's quite normal,

02:49if you're Liverpool you play away at Wolves,

02:51you've just scored the 1-1, you're trying to win the game,

02:53but it isn't as if we bring Virgil or Ibu forward,

03:00we just still play in this situation in our own formation,

03:06which in the past sometimes we did add an attacker instead of a defender,

03:11but recently when we conceded we didn't do that.

03:14I know there's no Champions League qualification for winning the FA Cup,

03:18so how important is this game in the context of the season now,

03:23given your position in the Premier League,

03:25saving that push for Champions League,

03:27and the fact that you've got a Champions League game on Tuesday,

03:30knock-out football as well?

03:32Yeah, we always found every game we play very important,

03:35and we always find every trophy we can win very important,

03:39so last season we tried to win four,

03:42and this season we tried to win four as well,

03:44but two are not possible anymore, the Premier League and the League Cup,

03:47so the other two where we are in, we try to win it,

03:51as we've always tried at this club,

03:56and of course for us qualification for the Champions League is massive,

04:00as we all know,

04:02but that's not on the line tomorrow,

04:05tomorrow the FA Cup is on the line,

04:06and that's a massive game for us.

04:11You said there about reacting after Wolves scored,

04:14and you generated a lot more chances after that,

04:16I just wonder why you couldn't take that approach earlier on in the game,

04:20from the start,

04:20and is that something you'll be thinking about going into tomorrow?

04:27Yeah, it's not the perfect word to use because it's not what I feel,

04:30but I'm almost annoyed if you say that approach,

04:34because the approach is not different,

04:36the approach is we want to have the ball as much as possible,

04:39and we want to have it back as soon as possible,

04:42so we always press high and when we have the ball we try to attack.

04:46Then in the final part, when we have the ball in the same position,

04:50it leads to chances as it didn't happen in the first 70 or 80 minutes,

04:55that is something I see as well, but that's not down to approach,

04:58or maybe we don't understand each other exactly when you mean approach,

05:02but we don't approach the game by saying,

05:04OK, in the first 70 minutes we don't want to have the ball or we don't want to attack.

05:07No, we do.

05:09That it doesn't lead to anything,

05:11there we completely agree on,

05:13but that might also be due to the fact that an opponent is fitter in the start of the game,

05:18and in the end maybe, I don't know, that they became a bit more like,

05:23oh, we're 1-0 up, so let's be even more defensive,

05:26let's give them a bit of more space.

05:28Or there's more urgency with us, but it's never the approach.

05:32We always start the game in the same way and we play it in the same way,

05:38but that there is a difference between the last 10 minutes in chance creation

05:41compared to the first 80, that's clear.

05:43There's no difference in the approach.

05:46If you mean that I approach it like, OK, let's stay calm and let's wait, wait, wait.

05:52No, no, no, attack as much as you can.

05:54That's also what you see in the game, we bring enough players forward,

05:58but that we're not able from all the ball possession to create a lot of chances,

06:01that's not something new to me that has happened throughout the whole season.

06:05I wanted to ask you about Cody Gatpo, actually.

06:07It's one goal in his last nine games and he hasn't assisted

06:10since the 2-0 win against West Ham in November.

06:13I just wonder if you're expecting a bit more from him?

06:18Yeah, I'm sitting here recently quite a lot with these stats.

06:23Last week it was Mo, now it's Cody.

06:26This is part of what I just said.

06:28We have the ball a lot, but we need to create more.

06:35But we are not in terms of chance creation last in the league.

06:39We're not doing that bad in terms of chance creation.

06:42But we're also the team that has most ball possession,

06:45so then you expect maybe to create also more.

06:47And that's not what we're doing.

06:48A player like Cody, a player like Mo, we expect from them,

06:52and they expect from themselves to score more or assist more than one out of nine,

06:56or Mo one out of ten, I think.

06:59But as I said so many times, attacking is not only down to Cody and Mo,

07:03as defending is not only down to Ibu and Virgil.

07:08So yeah, let's make sure we create even more,

07:11which should be possible with the quality we are having.

07:14And then goals will come for these players as well.

07:37No, I think you see individual players getting better and better.

07:42But progress has had setbacks because of injuries as well.

07:47I think one of the players we are having that is able to create a lot from open players,

07:53Florian Wiertz, and unfortunately he got injured three games ago.

08:00And before that he was able to create a lot.

08:03The team had a certain balance and then we had to adjust to it again.

08:06So that has happened a lot to us this season.

08:09But I think there were periods of time this season where we conceded a lot of goals

08:16and also quite a lot of counter-attacks now against Wolves,

08:19who were playing also in that style.

08:23We only conceded one counter-attack, which immediately led to a goal.

08:27But I see improvement over there compared to the start of the season.

08:33But bringing from all the ball possession, bringing in more chances.

08:37In some games I've seen improvement, Burnley at home or some others.

08:41But not all the games have brought us that.

08:44But again, I watched football again a lot yesterday evening,

08:49and we are not the only team that finds it hard to create a lot of chances from open play.

08:55It is also the Premier League and the opposition we face and other teams face as well.

09:00It's the quality of the league that makes it more and more complicated to generate a lot of chances.

09:08What options have you got to change if you want to?

09:13We have a few, but we don't have 11, as you know.

09:18But we do have a few options.

09:19I always have options to bring in, and players you can bring in you can also let them start.

09:24So we do have a few options, but again, not for the first time this season.

09:31Three days after a game we've again dropped points.

09:36And that is something I've seen us doing quite a lot this season.

09:41And now it's again three days after the last one.

09:45So we have to be better than we were the last time we played Wolves.

09:54Hi Arne, good morning.

09:56For tomorrow, which part of the game should be decisive to go through?

10:00Do you need more mental and tactical stability, being brave or just being stable?

10:08Mental and tactical stability, I have no clue what you mean by that.

10:12But what is being tactically stable?

10:19If, for example, you got the lead for the game and you have to maintain the lead

10:24because at the end of the game a draw wouldn't be maybe enough?

10:28Oh yeah, you mean like that?

10:30Yeah, that is what we are aware of.

10:34That a draw is not enough and it will not end in a draw because there's no replay, is it?

10:40No, so it will not end in a draw.

10:45So yeah, that is true.

10:50I don't actually know how to answer that question.

10:52Because I don't understand the question, so maybe that's just me.

10:58OK, let's get it through again.

11:01Which part of the game should be decisive to go through?

11:07Every part of our game is decisive because you need to be on top of your game in every part

11:13of it at Premier League level.

11:14So I hope we defend in the same way as we defended against them the last time.

11:20Because if you only concede one chance, that is against any Premier League side as you want it to be.

11:28And usually that one chance doesn't go in.

11:30It can happen, but it's a bit weird that from one chance they score twice.

11:36And on the ball we need to improve, that's for sure.

11:41But easier said than done because this is something we are trying for a long time already,

11:47to be able to generate more chances from the ball possession we have.

11:53But we will keep on training on it, keep on finding answers to that with the players we have available.

12:02Because sometimes you can want something else, but if you don't have certain players available,

12:08then those answers will not always be the right answer to the questions we have.

12:14So within the constraints we work in, we have to find the answers.

12:21Where is Florian Lutz?

12:24He trained half-on-half yesterday with the team.

12:29And what I mean by that, he was a joker, you say, over here, I think.

12:33So he made the next step in his rehab.

12:37So let's see where he is today and if he then could be available for a few minutes tomorrow in

12:43the best scenario.

12:44A few minutes in the best scenario.

12:48Did everyone else come through?

12:51Yeah, I think they did.

12:53Yeah, till now they did.

12:55The club announced yesterday their summer tour plans to go back to America.

12:59Were you part of those discussions?

13:02Are you already locked in discussions about exactly what the summer looks like?

13:07That's an interesting way of asking another question that you want to ask.

13:10But yes, I was fully aware of the fact that we go to the States next season.

13:19Hi, Arne.

13:19I wanted to ask another question around the general approach of the team.

13:23Now, you said yourself there very clearly that you're not telling them to go out there.

13:27But you did say after the match that at half-time you told them that they could move the ball

13:31quicker from side to side.

13:33Is that something you've had to say quite a few times a season?

13:35Why do you think that they are starting this game without having that same conversation?

13:41No, but my job is so much easier than theirs.

13:44Because I'm standing there on the side and I can see everything and they are in full action.

13:48And the distances from the teams are really small, so they are really tight areas.

13:54And for me to zoom out and see it and then walk to my iPad and see it even better.

13:59And then showing it half-time, okay boys, there is more space than you think to play it from side

14:03to side.

14:03Yeah, that's easier said than done.

14:06But don't think that before the game I tell them, let's stay as long as we can on the same

14:11side.

14:11Let's try to stay as long over there.

14:13And please, Virgil Ebu, never play a ball forward, just play it as long as you can towards each other.

14:18Now that would be as ridiculous as we both know it is.

14:22But sometimes it is showing them, but maybe that showing them has no influence at all.

14:29It's just more that after 45 minutes the other team gets a bit more tired,

14:34so maybe the No.9 doesn't close down the ball towards the midfield anymore.

14:39So you can switch it through the midfield, where in the first 45 minutes he does.

14:43And then you need to go around, and if you have to go around by your centre-backs,

14:47it always takes longer to be on the opposite side than when you can't go through.

14:51And that sometimes has to do with the fact that if players get tired,

14:54they don't close caps as much anymore as they do in the first half.

14:58And sometimes it just needs another emphasis on it to show.

15:05But I'm not a tactical genius if I tell them to go faster from side to side,

15:09everyone can tell this to them.

15:15And that's what we say before the game and after the game.

15:18But you play against an opponent as well that tries to prevent you from playing the ball from side to

15:23side.

15:23Is this one of those instances where playing the same team again is actually a benefit?

15:27Because you've had the chance to do it one time, you can analyse what didn't go well,

15:32and you can say, well, maybe stress the chance of being able to do it a little bit better the

15:36second time, right?

15:37Yeah, that's an opportunity.

15:39Or you take a different quality that you think you need now you've played them,

15:44and now you've seen, OK, that maybe didn't work as well,

15:47then it's also a possibility to bring a different quality in.

15:51Although there's not so much to choose, but that is a possibility.

15:58So, yeah, we could do both, as I said, and we will have a strong line-up tomorrow.

16:07But we're also fully aware, I'm also fully aware of the fact how many games we are playing.

16:12And it's three games in seven days, many times for us this season, and now again.

16:19And we go again with Spurs on Sunday, Wednesday, Karatasaray, Saturday, early kick-off.

16:27So that's probably the fifth or the sixth time this season that we play three games in seven days.

16:33So we are aware of that as well, and sometimes you take that into account in the line-up or

16:40in playing time,

16:41because it's always by choice that you take Jeremy off.

16:50But I don't think it was smart for him to play 90, and that's why we took him off.

17:13Yeah, you've already given the answer to me.

17:15I'm so happy with what we've done last summer.

17:18We've signed such a great players.

17:21But some of them needed some time to adapt and some of them have mainly been injured.

17:27That's not something you can predict.

17:29Yeah, adaptation you can predict, because that's what we knew.

17:35But that some signings and some others got some long-term injuries,

17:40that's not something you can predict.

17:41But it's the model we are having, that we are not having 25 players over here.

17:47We have a different model over here.

17:50And then it hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries at the moment.

17:59It's important for the Premier League, as intense as it is now,

18:03because the challenge is crazy for the additional Champions League games.

18:06Can you stick to having a small squad going forward, or do you have to make a change?

18:12Nah, if I have to give an answer.

18:14That answer is so complicated, we have to talk about so many things

18:17that it would take me a long, long time to explain,

18:20and I might not explain it perfectly as well.

18:22So I always knew when I came in that this was the model,

18:25and I'm really happy with that.

18:27So that's the most simple answer I can give.

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