Arne Slot on player form and injuries ahead of Spurs semi final first leg
07/12/2025
AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK
07/12/2025
AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Jürgen, we missed you last week.
00:14You were in warm-off?
00:16Sorry?
00:17You were in warm-off?
00:18No, I was on a road to the day off, I'm working that much at the moment,
00:22I was struggling to fit in.
00:25Switching days, you see, so you may as well just take that one.
00:30Get back in.
00:33Enough about me!
00:36Arne, obviously it's a two-legged semi-final straight situation
00:39where each game is a month apart,
00:41but I just wonder what you're expecting this time around,
00:43because it's only a few weeks since that 6-3 away at Spurs as well.
00:47Yeah, I think what we expect before we go into the game,
00:53that two teams have such a clear identity and playing style,
00:58that is what most people expect to see tomorrow again as well.
01:01So they have their identity, we have our own identity,
01:04and both teams are trying to force that identity towards the other.
01:10Large parts of the away game two weeks ago we could show our identity,
01:16but there were definitely also parts in the game where they showed
01:20how good of a team they are.
01:22Scoring three goals against us is also an accomplishment.
01:27I know we scored six in that game as well,
01:29but scoring three against us is what not many teams have done until now.
01:34How ready are Conor Bradley and Diogo Jota to start?
01:37Will Kehr come back in as well?
01:39And I'm just wondering how much you even need to protect the squad
01:42to handle this game.
01:45I think if you look at all the fixtures we've had this season,
01:48there are so many things going into a line-up.
01:52Short-term, long-term, qualities of the opponent, where are my players?
01:56So it's always going to be a decision made about, in our opinion,
02:01the best line-up for tomorrow.
02:05And in some situations, for Southampton or other games,
02:09in my opinion the best line-up was the ones that didn't start a lot,
02:13and let's see what that is tomorrow for the game we play against Tottenham.
02:20We understand as well, no further developments,
02:22you're cutting contracts, you're adding further bids for your players,
02:25but just on Trent, obviously the attention ahead of the United game
02:29was about that bid from Real Madrid.
02:31After the game it was his performance.
02:34How is he being under that scrutiny,
02:36and how sure are you that he remains unaffected by that scrutiny as well?
02:41I think we were all disappointed, not only Trent,
02:43we were all disappointed by the way we played.
02:47First of all about the results.
02:50Parts of the game we could be quite satisfied with,
02:53other parts of our game we weren't completely happy with.
02:56So that was not only Trent, there were more things in the game
03:00that we could have done better.
03:02Trent didn't play his best game, I said it already,
03:05but that's not for the first time in his life,
03:07I think he didn't play the best game of his career.
03:10He's played so, so, so many games well for this club.
03:13Now it wasn't his best, like for some others,
03:17and we just pick it up and start training today again,
03:20because these players know if you play 50 or 60 games in the season
03:24that once in a while you don't have your best performance.
03:28Maybe we should highlight more how good it is
03:31that these players are able to play every three days such a good game.
03:35And apart from the game maybe not being the best,
03:38it was again an eventful game from Liverpool.
03:41So all the games we've played in the last six months,
03:45and maybe even longer when Jürgen was here,
03:48I got many text messages from people saying,
03:51what a game again, unbelievable what happened in the last ten minutes,
03:55both teams playing fully for a win.
03:58And that is also part of our job, I think, to make it an eventful game,
04:04and that is what we are trying to do every game,
04:07mostly with a result of winning.
04:10Now it wasn't enough to win it,
04:12it was definitely an interesting game for everyone to watch.
04:16With the headlines around those three players,
04:19plus you've got two cup competitions now this week,
04:22there are things like social media posts being dissected,
04:26does this mean something?
04:28How do you handle that level of debate with your players?
04:33I'm not levelling that debate with my players.
04:36I talk to my players, so if there's anything that worries them,
04:40then they share this with me, but that has not happened until now.
04:44So what I do with the players is showing them
04:47what we could have done better against United,
04:50what we've done well against United,
04:52because I think especially in the first half
04:54we created some very good chances out of a very good style of play.
05:00And the mentality we showed after being 1-0 down
05:03was also something every fan likes to see,
05:05and me as a manager likes to see as well.
05:09We are focusing on, and I'm not focused on social media posts
05:13or what is being said about us,
05:15because if you do that as a Liverpool manager you have no life,
05:19because this is one of the biggest clubs in the world,
05:21and every second of the day people talk about us.
05:24So it already takes a lot of my time to prepare for the next game
05:29and to look back at the game we just played.
05:33If I have to do this as well,
05:36I think I need, just as him, a few days off once in a while as well.
05:40The game against Ashes is coming up after this first leg of the semi-final as well.
05:45You say you're looking at the players for tomorrow
05:48that maybe aren't getting those minutes.
05:50Is this a chance for those players that are getting those minutes
05:52to get two games in a row?
05:54Do you see the FA Cup as another opportunity for them?
05:58Maybe I didn't use my words in the proper way,
06:01I didn't say that for tomorrow the players will play that haven't played much.
06:06There are many considerations you make before you make a line-up,
06:09one of them is the thing you just said,
06:11but there are many other things going into a line-up as well.
06:14We might play a few players that haven't played all the games,
06:18and we might play a few players that have played all the games.
06:23I can tell you now what it would be,
06:25it's the first time we train again after Sunday.
06:29Yesterday, of course, the players were not off, but they did recovery.
06:34They came out of the game, and then we will make the line-up for tomorrow.
06:39How well would the players have dealt with playing every three days?
06:45With that in mind, would it benefit Trent to have a game coming so soon
06:49to get a bad form out of the system?
06:52I think it would benefit every player that we had a disappointing result.
07:00We would have loved to win that game,
07:04so then every player wants to play two days later again.
07:08But every player that was not on the pitch would love to play tomorrow as well.
07:12So that's the good thing.
07:14They all want to play, almost all of them are fit,
07:17that is quite special in this part of the season as well.
07:20And I would highlight more on the fact that these players show up every three days,
07:24because they did show up also against United.
07:27United, if I'm correct, was one of their best games,
07:32if that means that if they play so well we can still come up with a 2-2
07:37and have more chances than them, then we're not in such a bad place
07:40as maybe all the people will tell us we are.
07:43So we just analyse it, as we always do, and prepare ourselves for the next one.
07:50Can I ask you about Cody Gatto's contribution as well?
07:53He scored again at the weekend, and that's 12 for the season,
07:5610 in the last 16.
07:59And he's done really well in this competition.
08:03His contribution almost seems to go under the radar,
08:07because he's playing with the likes of Mo and people like that.
08:10What has he brought to the side for you?
08:14A lot.
08:16But I think I've said already a few times that I can completely understand
08:20how much focus there is on Mo's performance,
08:25that is remarkable if a player has so many goals and so many assists.
08:28But if you combine the goals of Lucio and Cody,
08:32when they play as a left-winger they come quite close to the numbers Mo has.
08:37It's in Mo's advantage that because Federico is not always available
08:41he's playing from the first to the last minute,
08:44but I think our left-winger position comes quite close to the numbers Mo has.
08:49So that probably tells you then as well that a part of this success
08:54is definitely the quality of the players,
08:56but a part of it is also the playing style we have.
08:58So I just mentioned that, again, the game against United
09:02was a game that everybody loved to watch,
09:04because we play such an attacking style of football.
09:07And what comes with an attacking style of football is scoring a lot of goals,
09:11and that's what we do at the moment.
09:18Yesterday he wasn't in yet, so if he's in today,
09:24I would doubt if he's available to start the game.
09:27But hopefully he's in today.
09:29But yesterday he wasn't.
09:31With the window being open, when you look at the depth you've got,
09:35do you think there's enough there to blast the pace this season,
09:38or do you think anything needs to be added to the squad in this window?
09:41It would be a bit weird if I said during the summer break
09:45that we are very happy with the team,
09:48and I would tell you something completely different now.
09:51But you always look at the market.
09:53This club has always looked at the market.
09:55I think we did this with the goalkeeper we don't even have at the moment.
09:58If there is a chance in the market, this club always tries to bring that chance in.
10:06The team is in a good place.
10:08Unfortunately, Joe Gomez is injured,
10:10that means we go from four centre-backs back to three,
10:14but he will be back in a few weeks.
10:17Very happy with the team, and I think they deserve that trust from the club and from me,
10:23if you look at the performances they've brought in the last half of the season.
10:28Hi, Arnie.
10:29Only Arsenal have conceded less goals in the league than Liverpool this season,
10:34but of the 19 we have conceded, 11 of those have come in the last six games.
10:39Now, obviously there's been some defensive injuries in the red card in that time,
10:43but you always talk about defending with all 11 players,
10:47do you think there's been anything systemically that's changed,
10:49or maybe even opponents have started playing differently,
10:52which has caused some of these more goals to come in?
10:56A lot of questions, so I can answer a lot of things.
10:59But I've said at the beginning of the season when we've conceded one or two chances,
11:03sometimes we were a bit lucky or it was the quality from the goalkeeper that we didn't concede.
11:09I don't think we conceded many more chances than we did when we kept the clean sheets.
11:15We had a clean sheet against West Ham when they hit the bar and the post,
11:19so that is a bit of football as well.
11:21It's also about the teams you face.
11:23If you go away to Newcastle, I think that's a difficult away game for everyone.
11:29So there we conceded three, we conceded two against Fulham,
11:32with the red card included, of course,
11:34and conceding goals against United, which is a very good team in the league.
11:39I know everybody is looking at the league table,
11:41but that is so far off from the quality they have
11:44that that is part of the season as well.
11:50So during the season sometimes the other teams have three or four chances
11:53and they don't score, and sometimes out of two chances they do score their goals.
11:57That has happened quite a lot recently.
12:01What I still see also when we conceded the second goal against United,
12:05I think we had more bodies in our 18-yard box than them.
12:08Robbo tried to do everything, made a sliding tackle,
12:11but the ball went through his legs and went in,
12:13and it went through the legs of Ibu.
12:15So as long as we bring more bodies inside the box than the other team,
12:19then still you don't like to see you conceding a goal,
12:23but I still see the same work rate we had in the beginning of the season.
12:27That is what is necessary, and then it's also sometimes about the quality you face,
12:31which is something that happened against United and Newcastle,
12:36because they have attackers that don't only score against us,
12:39but also against other teams.
12:42How much do you think Alexis Macaulay should benefit from that break?
12:46He hasn't played a lot of football from last season,
12:50so do you think that rejuvenates him a little bit?
12:54No, because he played outstanding before.
12:58When I think about Maca, I cannot come up with a poor performance from him.
13:05He's so consistent in his performances.
13:08Of course, he's not like Mo or Cody or Lucio scoring 15 goals and 12 assists,
13:13but he's so involved in every game we play,
13:16so important for us defensively as well,
13:19bringing the ball towards these players.
13:23So for me he didn't find better performances afterwards,
13:27but I think every player benefits for the long term
13:31and you have sometimes a few days or a period off as well.
13:35So I was happy that I could give this to him,
13:37but I don't think his performances are better now than before he got the break.
13:41Hopefully, because of this break, it will give him even more consistent performances
13:47in February, March and April as well.
13:52Going back to Trent, how is he up to immensely?
13:54I know you said after Sunday it's not a distraction, speculation,
13:59but it was a difficult performance from him.
14:01Obviously there was a lot of speculation, a lot of scrutiny.
14:03How is he doing up? Have you spoken to him individually?
14:05Yeah, but I've spoken to him and to other players individually as well,
14:09which you do almost after every other game.
14:12I spoke to him before the game and then I already said to everyone,
14:16maybe you were not there, things I talked to him about I do not share over here.
14:20But it's normal that you talk to players always,
14:25and in this situation it wasn't his best game,
14:28there were things I had to show in which he has to improve.
14:34And that's what you always do after every game,
14:36sometimes you show them how well they did,
14:38mostly when it comes to work rates,
14:40so they don't have to say their brilliant 80-yard pass,
14:43because that they know.
14:45And sometimes you have to show them what they can improve,
14:47but I only did this with Trent.
14:50We were just talking about Maka,
14:52I think if you look at the second goal we conceded in the cutback cross,
14:56if he spins a bit harder he could prevent the shot from Diallo as well.
15:02So there are always things you can improve,
15:05but in general they've worked really hard,
15:07gave everything to get a result,
15:10and unfortunately we were unable to get the best result,
15:15but we still got a result.
15:18Jürgen, in the last couple of years,
15:21the team has been more for competitions,
15:25last year there was a bit of a step too far at the end,
15:30are you still to comply with any lessons that you learned from them?
15:34Was there anything at all about the demands,
15:37or is it just something that with the experience you've had?
15:41It's very difficult for me to compare last season with this season,
15:46the only thing I do know is that what gives me the most confidence
15:49to look forward to the upcoming weeks and months
15:52is that until now we haven't stolen one point.
15:55All the points we got were fully deserved,
15:57and I think even in some moments we deserved more than we got when we dropped points.
16:03So that is I think the best forecast you can have for the second half of the season,
16:09and I don't know how that was last season,
16:12if all the results were as expected or fully deserved,
16:15or there were a few lucky moments as well, I don't know.
16:18But what I do know is that this season all the points we've got
16:22and all the results we've got were deserved, in my opinion.
16:26And all the players are fit at the moment,
16:29but again, if we drop points when teams have injuries,
16:34people say, yeah, that's because you have injuries.
16:36If we drop points, if Mo misses the penalty against Madrid,
16:40he's distracted by his contract situation.
16:42If Trent has not his best performance, he's distracted by the contract situation.
16:47If they play really well, nobody tells me,
16:49yeah, that's because they have a contract situation.
16:52So we always try to find arguments,
16:54but nine out of ten times the best argument is the quality of the teams you face
16:58or the game plan the other team has.
17:01United had a very good game plan, no build-up, at least not from the start,
17:07just bring the ball along, don't give us the chance to press them high,
17:11and go to a low block, which makes it always difficult for every team to create chances,
17:16which we did quite a lot, actually.
17:19But I think it's more about the game plan when we drop points
17:23than it is about too many games, players being distracted,
17:27having injuries, all these kind of things,
17:30it's nine out of ten times because of the team you face.
17:35Have you decided what you're going to do with the new line-up?
17:42I think I've decided the whole line-up already,
17:45but in many ways people have tried to get to know what the line-up is.
17:50But I know...
17:52The league cups tend to be a pre-match competition,
17:55you don't have to sleep until the end of the season.
17:58Yeah, I know, but I've said many times that there are many things going into a line-up,
18:04and that's the same for tomorrow again.
18:06So you will find out tomorrow what arguments there are,
18:09and if they've asked me before the game and after the game,
18:13I'm always more than happy to answer those questions.
18:15But first of all, I think the players should know how we're going to play,
18:18and if all of them are available, that is also something we have to find out.