Liverpool's Slot on Arsenal challenge, early season form and injuries (Full Presser)

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot on the challenge of facing Arsenal, their early season form and injuries Melwood, Liverpool, UK

Transcript

00:00This is always the one in the middle.

00:06No, this one, this is always the one in the middle.

00:09Yeah, OK, you're always the first one in.

00:15Yeah.

00:16Vinny, is it your contract?

00:19LAUGHTER

00:22You can ask me if it's my contract, but are you going to extend that?

00:25LAUGHTER

00:28We'll start with team news, Aldo, please.

00:30Jota, Chiesa, Conor Bradley, how are they?

00:33I think they feel good, but not when it comes to playing for us during the weekend.

00:40Federico might train with us today or tomorrow,

00:43but Djoko definitely not, and Conor Bradley will be.

00:48Let's see if he can be with us tomorrow.

00:52We've obviously spoken about the toughest test you've had so far,

00:55you mentioned Manchester United, we've spoken about Chelsea last week as well,

00:59but if they were the toughest test you've faced so far, what exactly are Arsenal?

01:03I said before the game and after the game that I expect a lot from Chelsea this season,

01:10and I think they showed it also last Sunday at Anfield.

01:15They are a similar team as Arsenal when it comes to playing style,

01:21they also like to go with their full-back inside

01:23and come into the same formation as Arsenal,

01:25but if you look at the last two seasons,

01:27Arsenal were far ahead of us, but also above Chelsea.

01:33So you would assume that playing Arsenal will even be more difficult,

01:38but let's see at the end of the season where Chelsea and Arsenal both are.

01:41Normally you would expect, especially because it's also an away game,

01:46that this one is even more difficult than Chelsea at home,

01:51and we all saw how difficult Chelsea at home was.

01:55Last season Liverpool took just three points from the four games against the sides

01:59and finished in the top two.

02:01Because of that it feels like it would be a big statement,

02:04even at this early stage in the type of race,

02:06if you were to take all three points this weekend, so how do you see it?

02:10We all know that taking points from your competitor,

02:14and nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your biggest competitor,

02:21but I think we all know that Arsenal will be one of them,

02:26and then dropping points against them, or winning points against them,

02:30that is always important.

02:34You're right, I think it was three draws and one loss last season.

02:39So, yeah, if you make a simple...

02:44If you use mathematics, is that the word?

02:48If Liverpool could have won all three of them,

02:51I think the league table would have been a bit different.

02:56It's difficult to win in an away-lag against Arsenal, City or all the other ones,

03:01but it's something we are trying on Sunday, definitely.

03:07Obviously a certain level of pressure, planning, that goes into these intense periods,

03:13but when you're in such a good run of form,

03:15how much excitement is there bubbling underneath, going into these big games?

03:20These must be the games that you join a club like Liverpool and come to the Premier League for.

03:25In the life of a manager, and I'm talking about a manager,

03:29I don't know how it is for the players, but the excitement is for 10 to 15 minutes after the game.

03:35So when you're still on the pitch, you walk off it and then you already start to think,

03:38OK, what am I going to say to the players next when they all come in?

03:42And then afterwards you go to a press conference and then your focus is already on the next game.

03:48So the excitement for a manager is maybe 10 to 15 minutes after good results.

03:52But it's a very nice fixture to be in, that's clear.

03:59But there are many, many nice fixtures to be in, and Arsenal away is one of them.

04:07Your start to the season continues to break records for a manager in their first season in the Premier League.

04:13Where does this start you've made sit in comparison to your own expectations

04:17and also those of the targets that you set?

04:21It's not that if I start the season I have targets,

04:24how many points you want to have after a certain amount of games.

04:29It is what I just said about the joy you have after a game, it's 10 to 15 minutes,

04:35and that's also the way I look at the fixture list.

04:39So it's always the next one you try to prepare and not look too far ahead,

04:43because that's of no use in football.

04:45So you don't go into a season thinking,

04:47after 10 games I want to have so many points, no,

04:50the only thing you want is your team in the best possible way

04:53and to prepare the team in the best possible way.

04:55And therefore you have your training sessions, your team meetings,

04:58and there's where your main focus is.

05:00It's not so much into how many points and where we exactly are,

05:06it's just trying to improve every single day.

05:09And that's what we're trying now, and that's also what's needed,

05:13because teams around us do the same.

05:19Arne, just three goals conceded so far in the league,

05:23which is clearly very impressive.

05:26How impressed have you been by the football element that brings that about,

05:30but also by the durability and the work ethic that the players showed,

05:35for example, against Chelsea last week?

05:38How important are both facets of that?

05:41Yeah, I think you said it in the right way,

05:43there are two reasons why we don't concede a lot.

05:46One of them is that most games, almost all of them maybe except for one,

05:51we dominated and controlled that for large parts of the game.

05:55So it helps if you dominate, if you have the ball,

05:57and you rest defences in order that you then can concede.

06:00But I also like that if you have difficult parts in a game,

06:03or for a large part of the game, like we had against Chelsea,

06:06that the work rate is incredible not to concede.

06:09And that is something that's very important,

06:11and if you combine that with having the likes of Virgil and Ibu

06:15and the two goalkeepers we've used till now,

06:18that is probably one of the reasons why these three elements,

06:23that's why we haven't conceded that much.

06:26And then to be aware of the fact that we also have Gerard Kwanzaa and Joe Gomez,

06:30we are in a good place when it comes to centre-backs,

06:33and the goalkeeper speaks for itself, I think.

06:36The away record so far has been faultless.

06:40This is a difficult week in terms of Germany, Wednesday in London,

06:46this weekend it's Brighton, next Wednesday.

06:49What sort of challenge does that represent, not just in a footballing sense,

06:54but logistics and the whole thing, disrupting training and what have you?

07:00Yeah, but that's part of our lives, that's also what the players are used to.

07:04If they play Champions League or, like last season, Europa League,

07:08you know that these challenges are there,

07:10you know also that they are experienced in this,

07:12how to take care of their body, what to do immediately after the game

07:15and the days after to prepare yourself in the best possible way.

07:18For this game we had three days in between,

07:20so that's more than we had before the Leipzig game,

07:23it's also more than we have for the Brighton game.

07:26Unfortunately for us, all these three games,

07:28we have one day less in recovery than the three teams we face.

07:35But that is also part of a season and part of our lives,

07:38and I think these players are experienced enough

07:41and they get the help of a fantastic staff

07:44to be in the best possible way physically prepared for that game,

07:47and it's my job also to prepare them in a tactical way as well.

07:54Hi, Arjen. In terms of the start you've made,

07:57have you exceeded your own expectations?

08:01That's a bit similar answer that I just gave.

08:04There were not expectations from me,

08:06it wasn't like I was at my holiday thinking,

08:09OK, after ten games how many points do I want to have?

08:12No, the only thing I was thinking of was,

08:15how am I going to try to bring the best out of this team

08:18that has been done for so long by Jurgen,

08:21and how can we continue that,

08:23and how am I going to do the individual meetings with the players,

08:26the team meetings with the players, and you don't think about points.

08:30For me, the way I think about it, it's about the process we are doing,

08:35what we do on a daily basis, and that, in my experience till now,

08:39leads in the end to points.

08:43So that's why I didn't have expectations coming in

08:46when it comes to the amount of points we needed to have

08:49after one, two, three or ten games.

08:52But there were expectations from me,

08:55the way I wanted to see the team playing,

08:58and I think that is matching my expectations at the moment.

09:04Hi, Arjen. I want to return to something I spoke to you about before,

09:08retaining slender leads in games.

09:11Last time you spoke after Wolves it was very much about

09:14towards the end of the game you were concerned about not taking chances,

09:18but were you concerned about giving up shots?

09:21Whereas in recent games against Palace, Leipzig and Chelsea,

09:24that's kind of changed, I believe it's 20 shots in the last 20 minutes

09:27of those games compared to 11 for Liverpool.

09:30Do you think maybe there's an element that Liverpool have been so good

09:33at defending these slender leads,

09:35that it's starting to affect the balance between attack and defence

09:38towards the end of games?

09:40I think every game has its own story.

09:43The Leipzig game I just said about the difference in the period of rest

09:47we had in between the games, so that could be a factor,

09:51where Leipzig was at the end of the game a bit better than we were.

09:55I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but it could.

09:59I think when I look at the Crystal Palace game,

10:02it was one or two transition moments where we were still,

10:05in my opinion, dominating the game, but we were a bit unlucky

10:08or we didn't have the rest of the defence good enough in order to concede,

10:12combined with some set-pieces,

10:14and I think the last chance Chelsea got was also from a set-piece.

10:22I liked the last six minutes of injury time we had at Leipzig,

10:27where we constantly had the ball and controlled it,

10:30and those moments were not difficult.

10:35Also, the Leipzig game, the first chance they had in the last 10 to 15 minutes

10:39was from a second-phase set-piece.

10:42But, yeah, you also concede a set-piece

10:45if the other team is a bit stronger than you at that moment.

10:48No, I'm not worried, but I prefer to see that we dominate until the end of the game,

10:54but it's also good to see that if we have to defend,

10:57that we have a team that defends with 11,

11:00with two outstanding centre-backs and a goalkeeper that makes saves as well.

11:07How is Alisson progressing in his recovery?

11:11He's progressing well, like we expect, but it's not a short-term recovery,

11:18so it's always difficult to judge him.

11:22I think the best way to judge an injury is in the end of an injury,

11:25the end phase of his rehab, and he's not there yet.

11:29I can't tell you for how long he will be out,

11:32but don't expect him to be in against Brighton in the cup or next week.

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