Arne Slot Post Game Press Conference West Ham United | Everything You Need To Know
Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 5-0 at the London Stadium on Sunday evening to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points as Mohamed Salah reached a 20-goal mark for the eighth season in a row.
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The Reds missed several chances before Luis Diaz gave them the lead on the half-hour mark. Cody Gakpo doubled the visitors' advantage before Salah got himself on the scoresheet on the stroke of half-time.
After the break, vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold netted his first league goal of the season for the Reds, while substitute Diogo Jota wrapped up the scoring as Liverpool ended 2024 on a high.
After the game, Arne Slot spoke to the media.
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Slot was asked about having five different goalscorers in the game
"I like to see this because if you only rely on one player when it comes to goals that is mostly not really helpful, although it's also nice to have one that scores a lot. But then to see that others score goals and threatening the other goal as well is pleasing to see. It's not only the one that scores the goal, I think the lead up towards the goal is also very positive from our point of view."
When asked about what he made of Liverpool's overall performance:
"The way I would like to see us play an away game. I think its always, especially in the Premier League, the defence come with a lot. There's a lot of fans in every stadium we play. The stadium is always sold out if Liverpool comes. They don't need much to cheer for if Liverpool comes in because if they already have an attack, or a corner kick, the fans are already cheering, so then you have to kill that momentum as much as you can and not give away anything.
"I think there was only two, three or four minutes where Curtis lost the ball, Mo lost the ball and then we conceded a corner, which probably wasn't a corner where the fans were a bit behind West Ham. For the rest I think because we were so dominant we could manage West Ham but also the crowd."
Slot was asked about Federico Chiesa's absence
"Federico I've said many times already, we are working on two things, we are working on his match fitness and whenever we can we tried to bring him with the team. He was on the bench during the week and we thought it was better for him to have some extra training sessions instead of joining us. It's the constant balance we have to find between getting him fitter and fitter and letting him join the team."
When asked about whether this is the 'top level' his team can reach:
"I think the level you reach during the game always has to do with the team you face as well. West Ham has done really well before we faced them today. They were in a good mood but normally West Ham doesn't compete for winning the league.
"I think you have to always take this into account. If you look at how happy you are with a performance; away games are always difficult in the Premier League. Especially here, I think last season it was 2-2, if I remember correctly. It's not an easy place to go to, so then to perform the way we did is pleasing to see."
Slot was asked about whether his team has 'moved up a level' in the month of December
"Maybe we are a bit better, but it’s not like we’ve increased enormously. What we did increase is scoring goals. There were games were we could've scored many more goals, but we didn't because we missed a few chances. Even today I think it was at half-time 3-0, but after 10 or 15 minutes we could've scored three easily with the quality we have.
"The good thing is that in the last weeks when the opponent had a chance it was a goal. Today they hit the bar and the post, so that is a positive to take. It's normal in a season sometimes you miss chances and sometimes in a period of time the other team gets a chance and scores.
"Then sometimes they need two, three or four and don't score. That is what a season brings as well. It's good for us that we, maybe for the first time, although maybe Tottenham 6-3 stands out as well, but that we have a win which was throughout the whole game quite clear that we would win this game because many others it was tight until the end."
When asked about 'having control' over whether players will speak to other clubs about potential transfers away:
"I think I have a lot of control over what they do if they are on the training pitch or if they are in a meeting with me, but talking about their private lives I don’t have control about them. That was the situation I had a year ago, it's been the situation for as long as I've been a manager, but I have control to a certain extent over them from what I expect from them on the pitch.
"I am really pleased to see what Virgil brings, what Trent brings and what Mo brings. The positive thing for me is that for four or five months it was only Trent, Mo and Virgil you guys were talking about and I assume - don't let me down, please - that people now are going to talk about every player we are going to bring in in the upcoming month and which other players are going to leave, so I guess a lot of questions as well not only about these three."
Slot was asked about the possibility of adding to the squad in January
"There's nothing in the media yet about who we're going to bring in? And also not in my mind. I’m very happy with the squad we have. I said this six months ago and everybody said 'Is this guy crazy?' but I think the players showed the confidence the club and me as well had in them was well deserved.
"If you look at Jarell Quansah today, hasn't played a lot until now. A few appearances. The way he played today shows also that is - that we keep working with these players because we're going to need all of them at a certain moment. Today Jarell played a very good game for us."
When asked about Salah's 'extraordinary' form and setting a new Premier League record of eight games with a goal and assist:
"Mo and the word extraordinary is something I’ve heard a lot in the last six months. He truly deserves this and probably for the eight years, but I am involved in the last half year. I don’t think he keeps surprising us because we know what a player he is and we know he is able to do so. Apart from that, he works really hard for the team also when the other team has the ball.
"We can only hope he can keep bringing these performances in, but I would like to add that if he scores there’s also a lead up to him scoring. So there are also other players that bring him into these positions, but if you bring Mo in these positions, he is extraordinary. Definitely."
Slot was asked about whether he used the Carabao Cup tie with West Ham earlier this season in his preparations for this fixture
"No, I don’t think I used the previous game to this game. They played back then with different players, I think - they mostly played with their non-starters. We played that game also mostly with our non-starters if you look at long-term of players that played most.
"So, I don’t think there’s a comparison between these two games. The good thing for us is that we scored so many goals because that's what football is about - scoring goals and hoping the fans like what they see today."
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LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli