Arne Slot enjoying his first pre-season with Liverpool and getting his ideas across ahead of Betis
Arne Slot enjoying his first pre-season with Liverpool and getting his ideas across ahead of Betis
25/07/2024
UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Pittsburgh,USA
25/07/2024
UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Pittsburgh,USA
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SportTranscript
00:00Both have felt really good. Time at the AXA was really pleasant because we have such great
00:09facilities over there, but I can say the same about the facilities over here. The temperature
00:14is a bit different though, but it's nice as well. Although yesterday it started raining
00:20in the afternoon, so it felt a bit familiar. But facilities have been good and working
00:26with the team as well.
00:28Mo Salah is out here. How important is it for him to get a full pre-season for a first
00:34time away?
00:35I think it's important for every player to have a full pre-season, but unfortunately
00:40that's almost impossible for most of the players in these current times where we play
00:46so many Euros and other kind of tournaments. But I think in an ideal situation every player
00:53wants to have a proper pre-season and fortunately Mo has one. Unfortunately many others don't
00:58have it, but it's the way it is these days.
01:03Coming into this camp with a lot of younger players in the team, you'll have players
01:09coming in at various stages, but obviously everybody wants to know about whether any
01:13more players will come in in the transfer window. How busy do you expect Liverpool to
01:17be this summer?
01:19I think I said before that the first aim is to work with these players. Of course it's
01:25a disadvantage that many of them are not here yet, and I mean the players that are already
01:29under contract. The positives about that is that you know better than me that it's an
01:35important lifeline of the club that youngsters come into the team as well, so it's an ideal
01:38way of seeing them in these weeks where they get a lot of playing time as well.
01:45The standards are really high when it comes to bringing in new players because we have
01:48such a good team and such a good squad, so of course Richard and me and other people
01:54as well are trying to improve the squad where possible, but that's not that easy because
01:58we have so many good players yet.
02:00Trent Alexander-Arnold isn't here, you all know he's entering the final year of his contract.
02:05How confident are you that a new one can be agreed and he'll be a Liverpool player?
02:11My answer would probably be a bit boring, and I think it's the same answer you've heard
02:15in the last five, six or seven years, that contract situations are not discussed at this place.
02:21But just keep trying, I would say.
02:24I always will, thank you.
02:27You're welcome.
02:31You mentioned in your first press conference that you were hired partly because you've got
02:34a similar style to how the teams play, but obviously there will be some differences,
02:38so in terms of the players that you do have with you now, how pleased are you with how
02:42they've adapted to what you're asking of them and how valuable has it been the time
02:46you've had to get those messages across?
02:49Like you said, many things will stay the same when it comes to playing style,
02:53but of course there will be a few adjustments because otherwise every manager has his own ideas,
03:00but the general playing style will probably look quite familiar for you guys.
03:07And I think every player, especially if they have had a few weeks off,
03:11they need to adapt to playing with the ball again, so taking that into account,
03:17I think we have made some steps compared to where we started, but that has not so much to do
03:24with implementing new ideas, but it also has to do with players getting used to playing
03:28with the ball again.
03:30But I'm very happy, like I said before, with the energy the team is giving every single day,
03:35which is normal in pre-season because everywhere around the world you hear the same things,
03:40players work really hard, but that's also with us.
03:44So until now I've been happy with the way they did and looking forward to the game tomorrow
03:49to see if we can bring some positives to the game as well.
03:53Has anyone surprised you so far?
03:54I mean, I'm sure you did your research, but it's the one or two you were really for,
03:57I didn't know what you were feeling, was that it?
04:00I don't think anyone that is an established player surprised me
04:05because if you go to one of the best clubs in the world, to the best players in the world,
04:09I don't think you're surprised in terms of quality.
04:11But, like I just mentioned as well, many young players joined us here as well,
04:16and there are a few that surprised me, in a positive way of course.
04:22But if your next question would be who they are, then you're not going to get the answer.
04:29Does Tony know anything about football?
04:35James, move on.
04:38I think they like this joke.
04:42Still that 11 players off the back of the Euros and the Copa America,
04:46will you get a few of those players back over the course of this trip, and if so who and when?
04:51Djokovic is arriving today I think, so he will have his testing day tomorrow
04:56and the day after he will join us in a session.
04:59And I think it's Ibu and Ryan that will join us later in the trip,
05:04and I don't think I forget anyone, and the rest will start
05:08after the trip when we're back in Liverpool.
05:11How about Alisson Becker?
05:13I think he will start also in Liverpool, when we're back in Liverpool.
05:18And just on the topic of transfers,
05:21most clubs in the Premier League have strengthened already,
05:23Liverpool are one of the few that haven't.
05:24Is that more because of you wanting time to fully assess what you've inherited,
05:29or is it more the case that targets aren't available?
05:32What is the main reason?
05:34The first one is one of the reasons which you just said,
05:37so me wanting to assess, is that the right word, the squad,
05:40which is difficult because most of them are still not here.
05:43And the second one also has to do with the difficulty of
05:46if you inherited a team that's really good,
05:49then it's not so easy to find players that are of the same standards or even higher,
05:53especially because those ones need to be available then as well.
05:56But like I said, Richard more than me is really working hard on that as well,
06:01and he keeps me updated every time.
06:03And if there's any news on that, we will come to you.
06:08But like I said, we already have a very good team,
06:13where I am already really happy with,
06:15but it would be a surprise for all of us, I think, if we don't bring any player in.
06:20So that will probably happen in the end.
06:22But for now, we're just waiting for the players to come back
06:28and waiting for the right ones to shine.
06:32Just in terms of Andy Robertson, he wasn't involved in the game against Preston last week.
06:35Is he fully fit now, or are you still able to manage him off the back of the Euros?
06:40He's not fully fit yet, but we're expecting him in the end of the tour,
06:44maybe just after the tour, to be fully fit again.
06:47So he took a small injury into the Euros,
06:52and afterwards he had to recover from that after playing those games.
06:57But we will expect him back after our tour.
07:01But he joined us over here.
07:03What is the problem?
07:05I think that's a medical issue, and that's something we don't share.
07:10So you wouldn't expect him to play any part in the three games he'll be in?
07:12No.
07:14Lewis?
07:15With transfers on, would you say that, from what you've seen so far,
07:19the current squad is good enough to challenge for the goals you've set for the upcoming season,
07:24and therefore new additions would be a bonus to the squad,
07:28or do you think they're needed?
07:30I think the answer lies in last season,
07:32where I think five, six, seven games before the end,
07:34they were still competing with Arsenal and City.
07:36So there you have your answer.
07:38They are good enough to compete.
07:40Since we last spoke to you, you've brought in two coaches,
07:44John Heitinger and Aaron Briggs.
07:46What do they bring to your team?
07:51Premier League experience.
07:53Both of them have worked in the Premier League.
07:55John more recent than Aaron.
07:58Both of them, of course, have their own role in our staff.
08:02I think I said before that Aaron is also the one that's going to bridge the gap
08:06between the youth academy and the first team.
08:08He has an analyst background, so that's a positive thing.
08:12John has played many games in the Premier League,
08:16and last season he was an assistant coach,
08:18that's the way you call it over here as well, at West Ham.
08:23So he brings experience as a player,
08:25but also as an assistant in this league.
08:29And he worked with someone that I know really well,
08:35and the two of us have quite a similar playing style,
08:37so I think it's not going to take long for him
08:39to understand exactly what we want with the players.
08:43The other week you mentioned you'd spoken to Darwin Nunes on the phone.
08:47Have you been in contact with the players that are not here yet,
08:50or is it important for you to give them a bit of space to enjoy the holidays?
08:52Both.
08:54I called them after they went out of every tournament,
08:58and we had a conversation about how the tournament went,
09:00how last season went, and what we expect from them.
09:04The upcoming season, in combination with the amount of days they have off,
09:08and some of them I've spoken to a bit more recently,
09:12and some of them are just enjoying their holidays.
09:17Three more?
09:19I wanted to ask you, except in this job,
09:21how much you thought about the challenge of replacing someone
09:25as successful and popular as Klopp?
09:27How much of the decision to come and take this job,
09:31did you factor in that particular challenge?
09:35I think if you go to one of the biggest clubs in the world,
09:39there's always pressure.
09:41And I've already explained in Liverpool that you can look at it two ways.
09:45You can be afraid for his legacy, but you can also look at the fact
09:49that he left behind a team that can win things.
09:53I've won a few trophies as well at Feyenoord,
09:57and I'm hoping that I can do the same over here as well.
10:01That's the aim we've got, and that's my aim as well.
10:09My question is, how do you prepare for Real Betis?
10:13As a pre-season game, are you more focused on preparing your own club
10:17for the upcoming Premier League season?
10:19I think it's a bit of both, but it's mostly preparing our own team.
10:23But I think part of preparing your own team is also preparing them
10:27for what they can expect tomorrow.
10:29So what kind of press the opponent gives,
10:31and how we then want to play out from the back.
10:33How they want to do build-up and how we have to press them.
10:37So it's a bit of both.
10:39I think until now we've worked mainly on our own ideas,
10:43and tomorrow we will have a meeting where I'm going to share with them
10:46what they can expect from Betis.
10:50When you're on a tour like this, how do you deal with the travel
10:53and the constant shipping from city to city and things like that
10:59as you try to coalesce this team into the regular season?
11:03We have a lot of professionals to make sure that this goes
11:09in the best possible way.
11:11I think it was two days ago where we travelled in a plane
11:15where not everybody will travel with a plane like this.
11:18So we could risk really well.
11:28We have to adjust towards the time zone, of course,
11:31but in terms of travelling I think we could be in a better place
11:34than we were.
11:37Is this a good way for you to start for the tour like this?
11:42I think it's always important to have games where you get a lot of resistance.
11:47Ideally you have your complete team, of course,
11:50but that has nothing to do with if we would have been here
11:53or we would have been in Liverpool.
11:55In both situations we don't have the complete team available.
11:58But if you come over here you have a lot of strong opponents to play against
12:02then I think that immediately also shows you the weaknesses you have as a team
12:07and if you're already competitive enough to start the league in a few weeks.
12:11So that is one of the advantages of coming over here,
12:15that we face three tough opponents.
12:21When you're in a new situation like this,
12:24how much of your time do you spend studying players that you've inherited
12:29and how much do you spend studying the opposition?
12:32Whether it's City or Arsenal or Man U or the entire league,
12:37how much of your time can you find to study the opposition as well?
12:43I think that changes during the season,
12:46so at this moment it's more the full focus is on our own team.
12:50So all our meetings are what do we have to improve,
12:54what can we do better, what do we do really good already?
12:58And then during the season when Ipswich comes up or Brentford or all the other teams,
13:02then you implement the opponent towards your ideas as well.
13:05But in football there are a few systems to play against,
13:09so it could be 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2, but they're not 15-20.
13:14So in these upcoming weeks we try to prepare them for all the systems you can face
13:18during the season in terms of how you want to do build-up
13:21and how you want to press those teams then.
13:24Combined with in this part of the season, of course,
13:27it's very important that players stay fit, stay available,
13:30and go to a next step in terms of match fitness.