Liverpool finally returns to Premier League action with the Merseyside derby this midweek, with Everton coming to Anfield on Wednesday. Arne Slot has given his press conference ahead of the game and this is every word he had to say…
Trent Alexander-Arnold future: “His situation is unfortunately that he is injured,” Slot said during his pre-Everton press conference. “Otherwise people would have probably spoken that he had one or two good performances for the England team.
“He is injured and that means for him, he is fully focused on his recovery. We try to help him as much as we can and for the rest, of course, for eight months it went up and down with all kind of talks about him, Virgil [van Dijk] and Mo [Salah], but we have never been focused on those [outside] talks.
“It is a situation that has been here for eight or nine months now. All these three players have played so well under these circumstances and it doesn’t affect us at all.
“I always try to be rational and judge the PSG and Newcastle situation. It has not happened many times that from the nine serious games a team plays in Europe, you win eight and you only lose one game and you are out before the quarter-finals [of the Champions League]. But the final was the first time we deserved to lose a game.”
Reaction to losing to PSG and Newcastle: “That was the first time we deserved to lose a game. There were not many things to like from the final. All of them played important international games. Like me, they were disappointed for us not winning our first trophy and being out of Europe. In the final, we were outworked. That’s not what I like.”
(Image: Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
How will this Merseyside derby be different to Goodison Park? “I expect the same but with one difference. When Everton players do well, they won’t get cheers. Our players will. That is a different emotion.
“Football-wise it is the same. David Moyes hasn’t lost a game in the last nine league games so it would be strange if they did something different. But we are top of the league so it would be strange if we did something different.
“I hope I would act differently [to when he was sent off by Michael Oliver] but I can’t promise that. I experienced eight minutes of so many controversies against us. I don’t think I will experience that again but you never know.”
State of play heading into run-in: “Most of our players played one week. Everybody can understand the position we are in. We are so looking forward to these nine games. Our players are refreshed. It’s not all negative.
“We played a final and we got beaten to a very good PSG team. I was proud of our performance against PSG. Maybe the best performance this season but unfortunately we lost on penalties.”
Why Chiesa hasn’t played much: “It wasn’t only that I didn’t see a lot of him during training sessions. It was also because he was also more than we wanted — and he wanted — injured.
“It was good to see that he impacted the game when he came in and that is what has happened this season already. Players come in and they impact the game. The assist was from Harvey Elliott who came on and impacted the game a few times now in the last few matches. It is good to see all these players are ready.
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“That is partly my job but also the player’s job to stay ready for the moment we need them. [Chiesa] is in competition with Mo Salah and I don’t think you can deny that Mo had quite a good season, so that makes it sometimes tough for him.
“But we know we can trust him when we need him. Not only him, but also all of the other ones that maybe haven’t played as much as Mo and Virgil, but we can trust them when we need them.”
Rare chance to breath in the English calendar: “This one was after four months of non-stop work. I like this one the most. My first experience of playing in the winter as well.
“I need it the most maybe as well. If you want to achieve, you need to compete with the best teams in the world. There is no room for going a gear down. You always have to be on top of your game.”
Opportunity to reflect on what happened so far: “Of course you reflect. You reflect on the first eight or nine months, and the last part before the break. Mostly I’m rational. I said immediately after we lost the final, it wasn’t only negatives.
“We also extended our lead to 12 points so that tells you we did really well in the league. That we lose to one of the best teams in Europe was far from ideal but if I have to go out of a tournament, I prefer to go out against PSG, or to lose against Newcastle which are a good team.
“But I think it is an embarrassment if you lose against Plymouth Argyle. I do respect them a lot but they are not of PSG’s quality, or Newcastle’s quality. If you have to leave a tournament, do it by being beaten against two very good teams.”
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International break actually a chance for players to refresh themselves: “In the PSG game, I don’t think in the eight or nine months I have been in this job, I’ve not seen my players work as hard as they did in the 120 minutes. Maybe that’s also why we looked tired in the final.
“But maybe I don’t give the right credit to Newcastle. They made it so difficult for us because of their game plan. When we were fit and Newcastle play like they did, it would still be a very difficult job for us to win that game.
“I don’t think we were tired. Against PSG we were incredible in terms of work rate and in terms of intensity. They are maybe a bit more refreshed than a normal international break because most of them had a few days off as well for the first time in months.”
Extra work on set pieces ahead of facing Everton? “I try to use data to my own advantage. We’re always defensively the best team in the league when it comes to corners. We hardly concede goals. Then we concede three or four and it’s already 26%. We have some of the best players for defending corners.
“In big games, you cannot win a big game if you have a negative balance in your set-pieces. Arsenal shows us on a weekly basis the strength of set-pieces. We want to do better attacking corners but we hope to keep our record defensively on set-pieces.”
Slot also confirmed that Liverpool will make a final check on Alisson Becker ahead of the Merseyside derby. But his side is nearing a big boost with the timely return of Conor Bradley.
The young right-back is training with the team again but no decision has been made yet on whether he will play a part against Everton. “We have to make a smart decision with that,” Slot said.
