Slot on transfers, Brentford challenge and Anfield bow (Full Presser)
Liverpool boss Arne Slot spoke on transfers, the challenge of playing Brentford and his competitive Anfield bow
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Good morning. Good to see you, how are you?
00:11All good.
00:13All good?
00:14All good.
00:154.30 Sunday is a very big moment, I guess, for you,
00:19your Anfield career as Liverpool manager begins.
00:23I'm just wondering how much you're looking forward to it and what you're expecting?
00:28It's not going to be the first taste, because we've played Sevilla already,
00:32but it's clear that it's the first league game at Anfield,
00:35and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm looking forward to every game
00:39I've played in the past as a manager, and also to this one.
00:43It's going to be a big crowd, probably twice as big as the one you played in front of last Saturday.
00:48How do you manage the nerves? Are you a nervous manager?
00:52I hope they are twice as loud as the Ipswich crowd,
00:55because the Ipswich crowd was really, really loud.
00:58So I'm hoping the fans can be twice as loud as the Ipswich ones,
01:02that would be a big help for us.
01:04But no, I'm not nervous at all, certainly not at this moment,
01:07because I'm in the middle of preparation, preparing the team for Sunday,
01:12and actually, no, nerves are not there.
01:17Not even at 4.25 on Sunday?
01:19No, it wouldn't be a good thing.
01:22If you have nerves then probably you don't trust what you did before,
01:25you just don't trust your team.
01:28I trust what we as a staff do during the whole week,
01:31to prepare the team in the best possible way,
01:33and I trust the team a lot as well, again on Sunday.
01:36I know you've been asked in recent weeks about new signings,
01:39and obviously you've been reluctant to talk about them.
01:42Momadash Vili, is that a deal that's done or very close to being done?
01:46I think you know already the answer.
01:49If a deal is done then you will hear from us,
01:52until that moment we don't speak about transfers or players that are not ours.
01:56You don't seem worried at all by any lack of activity?
01:59No, because I trust the team.
02:02As I said many times before, I inherited a real good team,
02:06a team of many young players as well,
02:08and I think we all know that especially young players
02:11can develop at the ages they are on at the moment,
02:14so we just try to work as hard as we can with them,
02:16and we trust them a lot.
02:18They've proven last week that they earned this trust,
02:21and I'm hoping that they show the same on Sunday again.
02:24Good luck, enjoy the day.
02:26Thank you, I will.
02:28Just going on from that theme, there was such a difference
02:32in terms of the first-half performance versus the second-half performance.
02:36How do you feel you are getting on in terms of being able to explain to the players
02:41what it is you want from them, and then buying into that?
02:46I think we're on a good track, if that's the way to say it.
02:50But we have to understand that some of them are only here for three weeks,
02:54and quite a large part of our group is with us for three weeks.
02:59And it's not only about us, it's also about the opponent,
03:03what they bring into the game, and I think I said it before,
03:06that Ipswich put a lot of energy into the first-half
03:10to make it really difficult for us.
03:13Or we stepped up, or Ipswich were not able to keep bringing the same energy
03:19in the second-half, and I think it was a bit of both.
03:24We got a bit more space, and then you can see how well these boys can play.
03:29But there's still a lot of work to do, but it was a good first step,
03:36especially the second-half.
03:38And in making substitutions at half-time,
03:41when you look at the quality of the bench that you've got,
03:44it must be great to see those options that you have,
03:47but in making sure that you are not afraid to make substitutions,
03:51are you partly learning more about the squad that you have,
03:54but also trying to create some competition?
03:57I'm learning every day still about these players,
04:01about the individuals and also how they cooperate with each other.
04:06For me, last week was not only important on Saturday,
04:10this Sunday was also really important, because I learned and saw there
04:14that the ones that didn't play on Saturday
04:16were able to bring a really good training session in on Sunday,
04:19and I think that's a really important thing for a team as well,
04:24because we all know that we're going to need many, many of them
04:28during the season for a lot of game minutes,
04:31so they brought in a really good training session on Sunday,
04:35and that will help them and us for the rest of the season.
04:40Yes, I am still learning new things about the players, which is normal,
04:44because like I just said, with some of them I only work for three weeks,
04:48so I'm still seeing new things from them.
04:53Arna, how's Joe Gomez?
04:55Do you feel like his head's in the right place for this weekend?
04:58Yeah, it's been in the right place for three weeks.
05:02He's worked really hard since he came back,
05:05but he didn't play a lot at the Euros when he came back,
05:10and in the first sessions he couldn't train the whole session,
05:15so we had to manage his load a bit,
05:17and that was also the reason why he wasn't in the team last Sunday.
05:21But this week he had a good week,
05:23in terms of load, how much he could do with the team.
05:28So, yeah, he's one of the players that I see new things from,
05:33and learn things that I see from him, also combined with other players,
05:38so it's been a good week for him and for us still.
05:42And the club have done some notable business with Brentford this window,
05:46just wondering how much admiration you have for their model
05:50and how they go about things on the pitch as well?
05:53Oh, I think they brought in two really talented and good players.
05:59Then you could ask yourself the question, why do they leave?
06:03Both of them have played a lot of minutes last season,
06:06and I think both of them wanted to continue that journey of playing time.
06:10I think they were able to play for us,
06:14but there is so much competition in the positions they play
06:18that they wouldn't play every minute of every single game.
06:22Then it was a good deal, it's a really good deal for us,
06:25and I think it's a good deal for Brentford,
06:27and it's also a good deal for the players.
06:29So, everybody happy, unless they do too well on Sunday!
06:35Do you admire the way Brentford play as well?
06:38Yeah, you can see that their manager is there for a long time already.
06:42In the last game against Crystal Palace they could play a 4-4-2
06:46and a 5-3-2, so they can change systems within a game,
06:50and I think that's hardly impossible if you work with a group for three, four or five weeks,
06:54let alone maybe even after a year it's still not possible,
06:57because it's so difficult to bring the best out of them in one system.
07:01So if you can play two systems with them,
07:03you have to make the conclusion that Thomas Frank is doing a really good job over there
07:08for a lot of years already, and they played a really good first game as well,
07:14as a good pre-season, so it's going to be a challenge for us on Sunday again to play them.
07:21How has Gerard Kwanzaa reacted since being taken off at half-time against Ipswich?
07:27In a way you would expect a player to react,
07:30so I spoke to him immediately after the game,
07:33I spoke to him the day after on Sunday,
07:36and at the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday,
07:40so normally he should have done recovery, he wanted to train.
07:44Unfortunately, I think it was Tuesday that he picked up a bit of an injury,
07:50so he couldn't train on Wednesday, and let's see if he can train today.
07:53But he reacted in a way every player should react,
07:57but I don't think there was that much into it,
08:00although maybe the language was a problem,
08:03because what I said was he did not lose every duel,
08:07but he lost one or two important ones, and one of them was just before half-time.
08:13From what's been told to me, it's like I've said, he lost every duel,
08:17which he did not do, we as a team lost too many duels,
08:21and he lost one or two as well, and this is also what I said to the team the day after,
08:26it was not about Gerard, we as a team didn't do well.
08:29But in my opinion, the only threat at that moment from Ipswich was Dylap,
08:34and he won one or two important duels,
08:37and I was trying to get that strength out of their team by bringing in Ibu.
08:43And you showed a couple of younger players this transfer window,
08:48some fans might be concerned that you might be letting some promising talent go a little too soon,
08:53do you understand where they're coming from?
08:56Yeah, that's always a difficult one, because young players want to play as well,
09:00and if they want to develop they have to play, and it's always like this,
09:04so they come through the ranks of the youth academy,
09:06and either then you're good enough to play for as many minutes or you're still not there,
09:10or there's too much competition in your position.
09:13And I think still this team, with what we have, have a lot of homegrown players,
09:19and one of them is also training with us on a daily basis, but only 17 yet.
09:25So this club will always bring good youngsters,
09:30and it's always a challenge to find the right moment either to play them,
09:34or if they've played quite a lot of minutes they want to make the next step in their career,
09:38and if that is not possible because Virgil van Dijk is playing here,
09:42or Mo Salah is playing here, or all the other top players are playing here,
09:45then it's best for them, and also for the club, to let them go.
09:50Because you always want to take care of your own interests,
09:54but you also have a responsibility to the players,
09:57and if they want to play somewhere and it's not possible with us,
10:00and they're not happy with 500 or 600 minutes,
10:03because these youngsters didn't play much Premier League games,
10:06they played a few games in the cup,
10:09then you have to, in my opinion, let them develop somewhere else.
10:18On the centre-back situation, is it a case of three players competing for one,
10:23or do you see different players coming in, like on Saturday, for different jobs?
10:31Virgil came in a few weeks ago, and in my opinion he made a lot of impact.
10:36He made a lot of impact in all these years he's played here,
10:40but me working with him he's shown how much he cares about the team and how good he is.
10:46But for him, and the same with Mo, like all the others,
10:50they still have to bring their performances in.
10:53So, in my opinion, there are four players having competition for two positions.
10:59But at this moment it's clear that Virgil is playing,
11:03and he's also going to play on Sunday, if he's fit.
11:07You selected Krugberg as the sixth,
11:11and Kess is probably not positioned to play greatly throughout his career.
11:15What do you see as his qualities for that whole playoff season?
11:20I think he brings in certain qualities which we like in that position,
11:25but he only played two games in that position, and he did it really well in both times.
11:31Against United he played well, three games though, against Sevilla and against Ipswich.
11:35Now, only one of them was a game that matters in terms of a Premier League game,
11:41so he has a lot to prove in that position still, but he did well in the first games.
11:47But like with all of them, it's not about the individual,
11:50it's always what the team around them do for him to play a good game,
11:54because if all the other ten would have played shit at Ipswich,
11:57I don't think Ryan would have been able to play a great game.
12:01What he has is he has running capacity, so he can keep on running,
12:05he has a nice height and he's really comfortable with the ball,
12:08so he has some attributes that he could play in that position,
12:13but still a lot to prove for him, as for all the others,
12:16and we have other options in that position as well.
12:19So, interesting competition in many positions, yeah.
12:27Just on Joe Gomez, can I check,
12:29your understanding is you expect him to be here for this season,
12:32you're not expecting any movement on that?
12:34At this moment I'm expecting everyone to be here,
12:37but, like you know, you're maybe even longer in football than I am, looking at you.
12:41LAUGHTER
12:47So everything can change.
12:49One thing I know for sure, Tony is longer in football than I am.
12:54That's it.