- 10 minutes ago
Liverpool boss Arne Slot on goalkeeper Alisson’s injury, their top 4 hopes and facing relegation threatened Tottenham Hotspur
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Good morning.
00:03Good morning.
00:04Good morning.
00:04Good morning.
00:08Good morning.
00:10Pete, feel pleased?
00:12Good morning, are you well?
00:15Yes, yes, I am.
00:16Good to see you.
00:17Can I just check on your injury news?
00:19Obviously, Alisson didn't picture me the week.
00:20How is he?
00:24He's been with the physios
00:25and with rehab till now.
00:27And
00:29we are training today, as you know.
00:31So let's see if he can join
00:33the team session today.
00:36And
00:37that is something I expect
00:39but I'm not 100% sure yet
00:41because I haven't spoken to him
00:44or the medical staff
00:45this morning yet.
00:46Will you be hopeful maybe? I'm hopeful.
00:48I'm hopeful, but that's not to say I'm 100% sure.
00:52Last time you played Spurs
00:53in the Premier League at Anfield, was that a
00:55wonderful day for you.
00:57I just wondered, coming
00:59back up to present day, whether that makes it
01:01all the more puzzling for you
01:03at the moment as to how your form is
01:04when you go back to that memorable day against Spurs.
01:07Yeah, it wasn't only special for me.
01:10It was special for a lot of people.
01:14Yeah, there's a big difference between
01:15where we are now and where we were then.
01:18That's clear and obvious.
01:21But it's a great memory.
01:24But I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow
01:26in two days again as well because
01:29playing at home at Anfield
01:30is always something to look forward to.
01:33And we have a point to prove
01:35because the last game in the league we've lost,
01:37the last game in the Champions League
01:39we've lost.
01:40And now playing in front of our own fans
01:42is something we will always find special.
01:47What do you want to achieve now this season?
01:49You're getting into the business end,
01:51you're still in the FA Cup,
01:52still in the Champions League,
01:53top six at the moment of the Premier League.
01:55What do you want out of the season?
01:57Do you have to win something?
01:58Do you have to finish top four?
02:00Are there priorities for you?
02:03What I want is that I am able
02:06that every single player gets the maximum
02:09out of every single training session
02:10and game we are playing from now
02:12until the end of the season.
02:14And that is the aim for me
02:17and that should be the aim for the players
02:18and I'm 100% sure that is the aim for the players.
02:21Because that's the only way
02:23to get the maximum out of what is there,
02:26what is in it for us.
02:28And what's that exactly going to be?
02:30That's not always so easy to say in advance
02:34because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.
02:38Sometimes, like last season when we played
02:39the last 16, it went to penalties
02:42and we were really close of beating Paris Saint-Germain.
02:46We lost and they went on to win the Champions League.
02:48So, margins at the level we are playing
02:51Premier League, Champions League are really small.
02:54But we have to fight for those margins
02:57every single day to make them bigger and bigger and bigger.
03:00And that's the aim.
03:03That was already the aim at the start of the season,
03:05but that's even more the aim now.
03:07I suppose in the way you set the bar high last season,
03:08that's part of the problem.
03:10You set the bar so high.
03:12I think the bar at Liverpool is always high.
03:14It has always been high and will always be high.
03:17And that's only a good thing.
03:18We're a top club where the bar should be set high
03:23by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high.
03:28So, and yeah, indeed last season we were able to achieve
03:32one of the things we wanted to achieve.
03:35And that was winning the league, close to winning the league cup,
03:39which we lost in the final against Newcastle.
03:43And this season, of course, we were unable to win the league again,
03:46but we are still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup,
03:53where we are competing.
03:56Enjoy Sunday.
03:59And can I just come back to the player?
04:02With Alisson, what is his injury?
04:05He felt something when he passed the ball in one of his muscles.
04:10So, but after we checked it, it was so minor that we think
04:15it doesn't have to take very long.
04:18But as always, games follow up so fast
04:23that he had to miss the one against Galatasaray
04:25and hopefully he's available and ready for Sunday.
04:29If not, I'm expecting him, if things go as planned,
04:34definitely against Galatasaray.
04:36And Federico wasn't feeling his best, was he?
04:38No.
04:39I expect he feels better now because he felt unwell the day before the game
04:43and I think we're now three or four days further ahead.
04:46So, I think he's able to train with us today again.
04:49And given that it was the first bit, I think, wasn't it,
04:52when Alexander got his injury?
04:55Oh, yeah.
04:55If I don't ask you about Alexander, it would probably be the one
04:58where he's got kicking the ball or something.
05:00So, can I just double-check on where he is now in his comeback as well, please?
05:05With the rehab team, still, and not with the team yet.
05:09Okay.
05:12This, if you win, will be Liverpool's 1,500th league win at Anfield,
05:19which is a remarkable stat.
05:22You've won more top five games at home than any other club in history,
05:25more points and all that goes with it.
05:27Do you still enjoy hitting these markers and the history?
05:31Is it the weight of expectation that pushes you on or can hold you back?
05:36Where does that sit with you when you get to markers like this?
05:40No, I think it only pushes me, us.
05:43As I just said, we hold ourselves to the highest standards as well.
05:47And this is another example of how successful this club has been
05:52and will be and still is.
05:55But if we reach that mark, I don't feel completely responsible for that.
06:01Because I wasn't there 1,500 games.
06:03But it's always nice to be part of a club that is achieving so many special things,
06:09because that means that you're at a club where you can win something.
06:11And that's something I want, that's something what the players want.
06:14We are working every single day as hard as we do,
06:18because we want to achieve something, we want to win something.
06:20And we are in a lucky situation that we are a club that is able to do so,
06:25as history has shown and recent history has shown as well.
06:30Ryan Grafwerk signed a new deal obviously in the last week, a new long-term deal.
06:34I just wonder how highly does he rank among your important players?
06:37And is he fulfilling his potential right now? Is there more to come from him?
06:42No, I prefer not to rank them in the following order.
06:45They are all different profiles for different positions.
06:48But it's obvious and clear that me and the club sees the importance of him
06:55and how much he developed.
06:56And as a result of that, he signed a new contract.
06:58Another young player, which was signed very young, as you know from our model,
07:05and has the ability to grow. And I think he's a great example of that.
07:09His first season was maybe not at the level as he was last season.
07:13But that is completely normal if you sign young players that have to adjust first to the Premier League.
07:19And there's a lot to come from them.
07:20And that has been our model even before I was here.
07:25And that's still our model signing younger players who have got the chance here in this great environment
07:31with such great facilities and so many great people working here to improve those players.
07:40for them to develop. And then when their peak is coming, and that's usually when they're a bit older,
07:49they are still playing for us.
07:51And you've scored four goals or more at home to Spurs the last four times you've played them at Anfield.
07:57What is it about this game that leads to a lot of goals, particularly for you, but generally as well?
08:04Nah, then you have to look at how the games went and who the manager was
08:08and what the playing style of the other team was.
08:12So I think, if I'm correct, the last two times Inge Postasikoglu was their manager.
08:18And I think he's known for a different style of football than we mainly see in the Premier League at
08:26the moment.
08:27So, yeah, then games are a bit more open as the game Paris Saint-Germain against Chelsea was also very,
08:34very open
08:35because two teams want to attack, want to press.
08:38But that's not so common anymore in football that two teams want to play in that style against each other.
08:47So I'm expecting in two days a different Tottenham in terms of setup, playing style, formation than a year ago.
09:01When you go up against a team that's in such form as Tottenham and the record that the club has
09:06against Tottenham,
09:07especially at home, does that increase the expectation on you to win this game?
09:15Because everyone's thinking that Tottenham is such bad in the form, you can't possibly afford to lose.
09:21I think if Tottenham were number one in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home
09:26to win.
09:28And that has, if we play against Man City, that's when we play against Arsenal, that's every game this club
09:33plays at home we're expected to win.
09:37And that has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league
09:42or the quality they have.
09:44We can win our 1500th, that's what it was, wasn't it, game at home.
09:49So yeah, expectations come from history.
09:53And history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games.
09:58So it doesn't matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky high at this club.
10:05And that's what we are embracing, because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to
10:11win things.
10:12And that's what we've done in the past few years, and in history as well.
10:18With the Gareth Hasteride game in mind, how do you explain how so many players don't achieve the high standards
10:27you spoke about this morning?
10:28But at the same time, do you have a thought on why so many players aren't reaching those levels?
10:35We've been talking this week of Norway's break has been an impact on the English teams in the Champions League,
10:41but usually you can get one or two players who may be not at the level, and the rest of
10:45the team will carry them through.
10:47But so many on choosing that, it seems there were quite a lot who worked at the level required.
10:52No, I believe in the opposite thing.
10:54I believe that a good individual performance comes from a good team performance.
10:59And I think in the first 15, 20 minutes, we were at it or on it.
11:04I don't exactly know how you say this, but three, four moments where we should have scored.
11:10And then there was a moment that completely changed the momentum of the game.
11:16Conceding a set piece, not for the first time in this season, that changed the momentum of the game completely.
11:23That is not what we are accepting.
11:26We cannot say, OK, if we concede a goal after 20 minutes, then everything should be much worse than it
11:31was before.
11:34But I agree with you. We didn't play our best game of the season.
11:38That's also completely clear.
11:40I also saw that for an away game in Europe, we were able to generate enough chances to score a
11:49goal more than a few other teams were able to create an away game in the Champions League.
11:55But we've struggled throughout this whole season with converting the chances we've got.
12:01And unfortunately, we have the bad cocktail of conceding goals from the few chances we are conceding.
12:10And as long as we cannot repair that, then every game is going to be very difficult.
12:15But I have a lot of confidence that we are able to do better because of the quality players we
12:21are having.
12:22And because of the fact that the upcoming two games are played at home.
12:26I think playing away against Kata tried a big...
12:28And then getting the goal, that was a big momentum shift, but also the energy in the stadium.
12:36So I'm really looking forward to play twice at home now with the support we've always felt from our fans.
12:43That can make a massive difference for us.
12:49Hi, Arnett. I would like to ask you about Milos.
12:52Because the last time he played the full 90 minutes was against West Ham.
12:55So how do you see his form now?
12:58That is, two weeks ago?
13:02West Ham, yeah, I think so, yeah.
13:05I see his form as I saw two weeks ago.
13:07I think he played a good to decent game against Kalatasaray.
13:14But he also received a yellow card in an environment where we conceded a lot of soft free kicks.
13:26Soft yellow cards.
13:30And a team that we were facing that was really smart in addressing that.
13:39So I thought it was too much of a risk to keep him in the team for the chance of
13:44him getting a second yellow card.
13:45Because he is always aggressive in his duels.
13:51And some teams in some environments can be really smart if a player is on yellow to try to create
14:00an atmosphere where he can get a second one.
14:03So with me having Rabo, I decided not to take that risk because the games in Europe, before we played
14:12Kalatasaray twice, the team they faced, Juve, got a red card.
14:17And one of the two times it was the left fullback.
14:21So I'm trying to take a lot of things into account in the decisions I make.
14:25And that was the reason why I took Milosov, not because he played badly.
14:28I think he played very, very decent.
14:30He had no problem still at that moment with his winger.
14:34But he had the problem of being on a yellow with a referee that was giving quite a lot of
14:40free kicks to Galatasaray.
14:45Why do you think Premier League clubs across the board struggled so much?
14:50This week I think it was four defeats and two draws.
14:53Is that symptomatic of the quality of the current Premier League?
14:57Is it the scheduling? What do you think?
15:00To jump to a conclusion, after one game day, I think that's such a small sample size that's never the
15:07smartest thing to do.
15:10Because maybe after next week we will completely have a different conclusion.
15:14I think in general it's not helpful for English club not to have a winter break.
15:18But I'm not saying now that all these teams have lost because we don't have a winter break.
15:22Why? Because you are facing in the last 16 of Europe, you're facing very good teams.
15:29And four of the five teams in the Champions League played away from home.
15:32That's usually an advantage to play at home or a disadvantage to play away.
15:37So to immediately jump to conclusions, missing a winter break or the level of the Premier League is not as
15:42high as we expected it to be.
15:44That would be for me, at this moment of time, not the right conclusion to make.
15:50Let's first judge us all after next week.
15:55And then maybe then it's still too early to jump to conclusions.
15:59But one of the things is definitely also that if you are in the Champions League last 16, all the
16:08teams are very good and strong teams.
16:12And if you play four out of five away from home.
16:15And the margins were in all the games I saw quite small.
16:19I saw our own game.
16:21The margins were really small.
16:22I think we didn't deserve to lose.
16:25Arsenal, the margins were really small.
16:30Maybe it sounds weird, but I didn't saw the 3-0 coming when I watched the first half of City
16:37against Real Madrid.
16:39The only one I didn't saw was Paris Saint-Germain against Chelsea.
16:41But people told me that Chelsea was very involved in that game and didn't deserve to lose 5-2.
16:47So, yeah.
16:51Jumping conclusions about one game is usually not what I would do.
16:57Well, last one.
16:58An actor's performance game has walked out close to the younger moments of starting the Premier League.
17:02What's the balancing act with him?
17:04Because he's so young, he's a balancing act of not wanting to play so much because it could have an
17:10effect on his career later down the line.
17:13If you know what I mean.
17:18No, it's not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest of the club.
17:22We've been this season.
17:24We've treated him carefully.
17:26I think I've said something about that before.
17:29That he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures.
17:35Players of these age sometimes have and have had here at this club.
17:42Jaden Denz is one of the examples of that.
17:45But yeah, Rio is a player that could start for us.
17:48I think I said a month ago that he would get more playing time.
17:52And I think we've all seen that coming in for a longer spell of times starting against Wolves.
17:58And he's definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games.
18:03Because as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think we have to play three games in seven
18:08days.
18:08We have an early kickoff on Sunday and an away game at Brighton.
18:12So we've been very lucky with that this season with that schedule.
18:17So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players.
18:20And of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we've experienced last season.
18:29So we've done playing three games in seven days.
18:33Every player that's fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.
18:41Next door.
Comments