Arne Slot answered questioned about a number of topics in his pre-Paris Saint-Germain press conference on Tuesday.
The Liverpool head coach oversaw a training session at the AXA Training Center earlier in the day before flying to French capital with his staff and a 24-man travelling squad.
The press conference took place just hours after the FA published the written reasons behind Slot being handed a two-game suspension for his conduct during and after last month’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.
See what Slot had to say about that development, as well as the fitness of Cody Gakpo and the threat of PSG in the full press conference transcript below…
On the written reasons emerging from the FA on Slot’s touchline ban…
The moment it happened I was quite emotional for everything that had happened in the last seven or eight minutes, or maybe during the whole game. I chose to go on the pitch instead of staying calm, going inside and then talking to Michael. I don’t have these same emotions anymore, so now I think I should set a better example than I set back then and don’t go into this situation again. It’s clear what I have said, and what Michael has written and what I have written. I think Michael has been in the news quite a lot recently and I don’t think it helps if I add something to that now I have my emotions under control.
On whether drawing PSG in the last 16 meant no advantage from finishing first in the league phase…
No, that’s clear because I see Paris Saint-Germain as one of the strongest teams in Europe. I think everyone agrees with me, if you’ve seen them playing in the last few weeks or last few months already. But that could happen in the former format as well; so, if you ended up No.1, there was always one team that ended up No.2 that you felt like, ‘We’re hoping not to get that team…’ It can happen in this format as well. I think it is a great fixture to look forward to for everyone who loves football. Both teams scored so many goals this season, quite similar playing styles maybe – not completely but the ideas are quite similar. Both teams like to have the ball, both teams work really hard without the ball. I can come up [with] six, seven or eight similar things that both teams are doing. So, yes, an interesting fixture to look forward to.
On Cody Gakpo availability after he missed training…
He was close to being ready to play again but yesterday he had to block a shot, and felt a bit of pain again. We took him with us to judge him tomorrow to see if he can be part of the squad or not. It will be a close call
Tough draw against PSG…
We could only have two: Benfica or PSG. Although I like Benfica as well, everyone who watches football in the last few months could have told you that we probably would have preferred Benfica over PSG. It is a great fixture to play. If you play at Liverpool you want to play in the biggest games. We have to accept what the draw is. Both teams are facing a very strong opponent — not only us, they as well.
Ousmane Dembele’s form this season…
I think Luis Enrique did a lot of things really well over here in the past one-and-a-half seasons. He really created in a few transfer windows which I think – I don’t know, I haven’t asked him – but I assume he is quite happy with what he created over here. Not only in team performance but also in individual performance. If you look at the quality [Ousmane] Dembele brings to the team at the moment, it is very impressive. That is one of the many similarities there are – both have attackers in great form and scoring a lot of goals, as well as all the other things I just said. It is clear that Luis Enrique did a great, great job over here in the past one-and-a-half seasons and he was already in the semi-finals of the Champions League last season. In my opinion, this team is even better than the one he managed last season.
On Kvaratskhelia—Liverpool links in January…
Probably you don’t come from England, because in England people say we almost buy every player that there is in the world. This is where people like him make their money. If you go to England, see Sky Sports, we are interested in almost every player in the world — it’s a bit exaggerated. I cannot talk about if we were interested, but what I can tell you is that he’s a great player. He was in Spalletti’s team at Napoli which I loved to watch when they were doing well in Italy and doing well in Europe. He’s a great player and Paris Saint-Germain has many of them.
Thoughts on Luis Enrique calling Liverpool the best team in Europe…
My thoughts aren’t on these kind of things, it’s about PSG, Southampton, then PSG. It’s a good thing to have had the weekend off ahead of tomorrow’s game because two days would probably not be enough to prepare for PSG, because I’m really impressed with what I saw. They are a very good team. I think it’s a nice compliment but the best team in Europe has to win the Champions League and we are far away from that. The best team in Europe is still Real Madrid because they won this competition last season.
On why some people criticize the French league…
I don’t understand because I rate the French league highly. I don’t know why it is. They are better than some other leagues but history wise these leagues get a lot of attention. I’m not going to name them. French teams have done well and the national team is one of the best national teams in the world. PSG deserve a lot of credit for what they’re doing in France and also in Europe.
On the key areas that could decide the game and the pace of the teams’ attackers…
I did read that Luis Enrique said that we have three players that are really fast up front and again I see a similarity because [Bradley] Barcola and Dembele are also not slow! They are very, very, very fast, as well as [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia, and there is maybe their fourth attacker, which is [Achraf] Hakimi because he is playing as a full-back but he is all the time going up and down, up and down, up and down – maybe again a similarity if you look at Trent Alexander-Arnold. Yeah, we will have a plan to show ourselves in the best possible way, that’s what Paris Saint-Germain will have as well, and we will see tomorrow when we face each other how things will work out.
On how Liverpool will look to deal with PSG’s intense pressing…
I think we have to show in every part of our game the best possible performance from this season. It’s not easy to dominate ball possession against Paris Saint-Germain because they take a lot of risk when they press, so they go man-v-man all over the pitch and that makes it hard for many teams to have a lot of ball possession against them. So, we have to adapt really well to what is in front of us. So, I have seen also a few games – mainly in the beginning of the season, for example against Arsenal, where they were not as aggressive as they were in the last 10 or 15 games that they have played when it comes to pressing.
So, in every part of our game we have to be on top and the best possible version of ourselves. That can mean that we have to do really well on the counter-attack and if they give us a bit more time we have to be really good with the ball, and when they have the ball, they are – I think Luis Enrique said it himself – one of the best teams, or the best team, in Europe and he is definitely right. They are definitely one of the best teams when they have the ball, with so much attacking threat all over the pitch and so many rotations, so many players taking in different positions. So, yeah, an interesting game.
They are, not only when they lose the ball but in every part of the game, quite intense in terms of pressing. I think if there is one thing people will tell you about us it is that we are quite intense as well; maybe not going man-v-man all over the pitch like Paris Saint-Germain do but we like to press aggressively and if we lose the ball do the same also. So, it’s so difficult to judge before the game because, OK we’ve played Lille, they have played Lille, they were already 4-0 up at half-time and we were 1-0 up at half-time so that tells you how strong they are.
But you cannot compare teams like that so tomorrow we have to wait and see if they will be on top of us and if they are, we have to suffer and we have to be like we were against [Manchester] City. Or hopefully we can hold the ball very well and we can play the similar style we have played in all the other games except for the City one, and that is us dominating ball possession. We will see tomorrow what the game will bring us.
