Arne Slot's Pre Match Accrington Stanley Press Conference | Everything You Need To Know
Liverpool will commence their journey in this season's FA Cup at the third-round stage by hosting Accrington Stanley at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime. The Reds will be looking to secure their first win since the turn of the year.
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Liverpool slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal on Wednesday following their 2-2 draw against arch-rivals Manchester United at Anfield last weekend.
Jarell Quansah and Dominik Szoboszlai will be available for selection as the Reds have no fresh injury concerns. Arne Slot is expected to make several chances with an eye on next Tuesday's important Premier League trip to face third-placed Nottingham Forest.
Ahead of the Accrington Stanley clash, the Dutchman spoke to the media during his pre-match press conference.
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Slot was asked about transfer speculation
"What I make of that is it is January. I think I said it after the West Ham game that don't disappoint me, please come up with all these clubs and all these players that are in the interest from us or the ones that don't play a lot for us are going to go somewhere else!
"Yeah, that's what's happening now. Nine out of 10 times, 99 times out of 100 times in the end of the window, it's been clear that almost all of these stories weren't true. So, what can I comment about it? That the rumours keep going for it, but no comments from my side."
When asked about what he knows about the relationship between Liverpool and Accrington Stanley:
"Not that much, of course, because I'm only here for half a year. But I do know about the milk advert – probably everyone knows this. Immediately after the [draw] there was a clip or a video about the player that was so happy that he was going to play at Anfield. So, these kind of things I know.
"I know people from this area also play for that club. That's quite a lot actually I already know! And, of course, I know a lot about the team. Today I'm going to know even more about [them] because we are going to dive into it even more today. That's all I can say about it."
Slot was asked about the performances in the last two matches
"I don't see that many differences compared to many other games we've played. The only difference is that we've played these two games after winning 6-3 from Tottenham and winning 5-0 from West Ham. So after those two games, everybody said, 'We know they were good but that they were that good we probably didn't know yet.' So if you compare to those standards, I do agree that the games against [Manchester] United and the last game against Tottenham were of lower standards compared to those if you look back at all the other games. Even [against] Leicester City, we were 2-1 up with 10 minutes to play.
"The whole season, I said this many times, we won a lot of games and almost every game we won – maybe the only exception could be Chelsea – but all the other ones we've deserved to win but never by a big margin. It was always very tight. And if people ask me what can we improve, that is increasing that margin. Because otherwise you always depend on a bit of luck or being unlucky as well or a certain decision that can be made – you know I mean the referee decision, of course – and we must make sure that we don't depend on those moments anymore. And that's the next step that we have to make if we don't want to depend on luck or bad luck. Because Crystal Palace away, they got a big chance 10 minutes before the end, didn't score, we beat them with 1-0.
"I know in football it's everywhere the same around the world, you're only judged by the results. And because of the results, people judge you on the performances. There's not many times if a team has a draw or a loss that people say, 'They played really, really, really well.' It's a long answer! The Tottenham game, if the referee would have given a red card, we would have kept a clean sheet over there and maybe be able to score against 10 men. Everybody would have said, 'Again, a difficult away game with a clean sheet, they totally controlled and dominated the game – again, a good performance of Liverpool.'
"And now because we conceded the goal, it's all about us being a bit more sloppy and all these kind of things. That's what this industry is about and it's up to me to see, 'Is there really so much difference between us playing Leicester City, playing Ipswich away, playing Crystal Palace away?' And I think we are still the same team also in terms of the performance."
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When asked about Harvey Elliott:
"I agree with you, he's a talented player – he's been this for us for so long. In recent weeks, he comes in quite a lot and gets his minutes over there. But like it is for him, like it is for all the others, they are in competition with many other good players as well. He was very unlucky that, I think it was after two games, he got injured, was out for a long time. What I've seen until now with almost all of our players that have been out quite a while is that in this league, in this tempo, in this intensity and the quality that we have but the other team has as well, it is not so easy to come back and be at your best immediately.
"I see this not only with Harvey, I see this with, like I said, almost all the other players that have been out five, six, seven or eight weeks. That is the balance that we have to find by giving them playing time to get back to their best level but still be able to win every game. Because like I just said, our margins are constantly small and if you are 5-0 up, you can give players that have been out for quite a long time half an hour or a half or even longer – but that is not the way we won our games until now and that's also the reason why if we have one or two times [been] a bit unlucky that we can draw a game or lose a game."
Slot was asked about the perception Liverpool are attacked most down their right-hand side
"It could also mean that we attack a lot on our right side, that they pick up the ball and then play their counter-attack over that side. If it is only 12 per cent, I don't see anything in this. What we do have to see is how we conceded our chances, how we concede our goals and that is not only about our right side because if they attack on our right side, they still have to go to the middle to find the goal. If they go to the middle, it is the players who play in the middle and the players from the left side have to come inside and defend that as well.
"I do see a certain pattern in the goals we concede, but I don't see if it's the pattern if it's about Trent [Alexander-Arnold] if that's what you mean. Not at all. Trent has had one difficult game for us and maybe a few that were OK to good. Mainly he had great games when he played for us this season. I know there is a lot of focus on him at the moment, but I would also like to highlight the focus on how well he did when he came in for the last half hour [at Tottenham] and how our fans reacted on him. That is what pleased me even more during that game."
When asked about the different challenges of facing a team from the lower divisions in the FA Cup:
"I think every team that plays against us, it's a special occasion for every team we face – but especially for a lower-league team. They will be all up for it, they've lived towards this game for many weeks probably, nine out of 10 times all players are fit and there's no-one suspended. The challenge is always to bring the best out of ourselves.
"Everybody could understand that if you go to a Champions League final, everybody is completely hyped up and ready – and that is for them tomorrow, it is going to feel like a Champions League final. We have to be aware of that. Nine out of 10 times, the first 25 minutes or half hour is the most difficult part of the game because they will still be very intense. It is up to us to be ready for them wanting to play the best game of their lives – and that is what we have to do as well."
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Slot was asked about finding 'the balance between rest and rhythm' for his players
"It's not difficult because I think if you are in a league like this and you play so many games, one of the most important things you can do is give players some rest once in a while when it is possible. Then you always wonder to yourself if they need a few days off, which has happened many more times this season where afterwards we had the result. You always wonder, you always try to reflect on the game. What have we done? Could we have done better?
"In both games [against Man United and Tottenham] we had a lot of intensity, it was necessary because both games were intense, especially against Tottenham. If you look at the physical output, it was one of the best games this season. That's not to say we played the best with the ball, but [in terms of] physical output.
"That tells you then maybe for them being rested that at least they are completely ready to compete, so you cannot see what some people try to say now – that we might be tired or those kind of things. No, not at all. We are even having a step up. But what probably was not seen a lot was compared to the game two weeks ago, we changed five positions and a few of them didn't have a lot of playing time in the last six or seven weeks.
"That's what I just also said: if a player is out for six or seven weeks in this league and has to train for himself and then comes back to this intensity, sometimes you have to find your rhythm in the first 10, 15 or 20 minutes.
"I think that's exactly what you saw against Tottenham, that's why that probably stayed in the head for many people a long time. But if I look at the game back and I look at the last 70 minutes, I see we were able – just as many times as two weeks ago – to arrive in and around the final third of Tottenham.
"Now there was a difference in the final third, we were not creating as many chances from getting into those positions as we did two weeks ago, but that is a normal situation in a season. That is the most difficult part of the pitch, the final third, and sometimes these attackers create chance after chance and sometimes it's a bit harder."
When asked about what he wants to see from Federico Chiesa in the second half of the season, and if Saturday is a chance for him to get minutes:
"Like I said, every game is a chance for every player to get some playing time. It's not only for him been difficult because of all of the things you just said – I'm not going to say all these things again – in terms of match fitness, it's also that he has to compete with the likes of Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah. Everybody here knows the numbers Mo Salah brings in; there's not many times a reason to take him out during a game or before a game. Also because he is so fit. I said many times before, he was the fittest player that came in in pre-season and he does everything every single day to keep his match fitness, he wants to play every game. And he shows up every single game.
So, it's not only about Federico when we are talking about him being limited in his playing time, it's also about the others. But in terms of Federico, it definitely has to do with the way he came in. I don't know the English words… the rest were already training a lot and we had to bring him up in terms of match fitness. So, it's a combination of reasons why he didn't play that much yet, but let's wait and see in the upcoming weeks and months if he's able to help us, because the second half of the season is even more important than the first half.
Slot was asked about whether Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni could be involved in the squad against Accrington
"We still have to train. We couldn't yesterday because our flight coming back from London arrived quite late here, so we gave them a day off as a result of that. So we have to wait and see how everybody is recovered today and then we have to make a decision which players we are going to bring to the game.
"But Trey has been in the squad many times already. I think Rio only once, Southampton away. But these players are doing really well when they train with us, doing really well when they play with the U21s. So as long as they keep doing that, their chances of getting their moment in the first team will increase of course."
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