Arne Slot held a meeting with his Liverpool squad upon their return from international duty, emphasizing that being outworked is “almost unacceptable”. The Reds’ boss issued this rallying cry as they continue their pursuit of the Premier League title.
Slot took the opportunity on Sunday to remind his players of the high standards set this season. As Liverpool prepares to host Everton in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday, it aims to edge closer to securing a 20th title.
However, following a Carabao Cup defeat by Newcastle before the break, Slot felt it necessary to deliver a stern message to his team. He stated: “There was definitely a message to the players and they came in Saturday and we had the meeting you are talking about yesterday [Sunday].
“The message is as simple as it has always been – don’t accept you are outworked by a team, which we were, against Newcastle.
“If the stakes are so high, that is almost unacceptable, almost. It can happen in a season once or twice but it shouldn’t happen many times.”
For the clash with Everton, Liverpool is expected to have Alisson Becker and Ryan Gravenberch fit, while Conor Bradley could also feature after recovering from a hamstring issue. However, Trent Alexander-Arnold remains sidelined with an ankle problem.
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Despite ongoing contract drama surrounding Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Slot reaffirmed that it does not distract him from the Reds’ quest for glory. Speculation regarding the future of the Reds right-back escalated during the international break with reports that Real Madrid is nearing a deal to sign him on a free transfer this summer.
Slot commented: “His situation is unfortunately that he is injured, otherwise people would have spoken that he had one or two brilliant performances for the England team.
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“But he is injured and for him that means he is fully focused on his recovery. For us it means we will try to help him to be back as soon as he can.
“And for the rest, for eight months it went a bit up and down with talks about him, Virgil or Mo, but we have never been focused on those talks, we have always been focused on what we have to do.”
“For Virgil and Mo that is trying to win the Merseyside derby and for Trent it is trying to be fit as soon as he can.”
