Arne Slot enjoying his first pre-season with Liverpool and getting his ideas across ahead of Betis

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Arne Slot enjoying his first pre-season with Liverpool and getting his ideas across ahead of Betis  25/07/2024  UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, Pittsburgh,USA

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00:00Both have felt really good. Time at the AXA was really pleasant because we have such great

00:09facilities over there, but I can say the same about the facilities over here. The temperature

00:14is a bit different though, but it's nice as well. Although yesterday it started raining

00:20in the afternoon, so it felt a bit familiar. But facilities have been good and working

00:26with the team as well.

00:28Mo Salah is out here. How important is it for him to get a full pre-season for a first

00:34time away?

00:35I think it's important for every player to have a full pre-season, but unfortunately

00:40that's almost impossible for most of the players in these current times where we play

00:46so many Euros and other kind of tournaments. But I think in an ideal situation every player

00:53wants to have a proper pre-season and fortunately Mo has one. Unfortunately many others don't

00:58have it, but it's the way it is these days.

01:03Coming into this camp with a lot of younger players in the team, you'll have players

01:09coming in at various stages, but obviously everybody wants to know about whether any

01:13more players will come in in the transfer window. How busy do you expect Liverpool to

01:17be this summer?

01:19I think I said before that the first aim is to work with these players. Of course it's

01:25a disadvantage that many of them are not here yet, and I mean the players that are already

01:29under contract. The positives about that is that you know better than me that it's an

01:35important lifeline of the club that youngsters come into the team as well, so it's an ideal

01:38way of seeing them in these weeks where they get a lot of playing time as well.

01:45The standards are really high when it comes to bringing in new players because we have

01:48such a good team and such a good squad, so of course Richard and me and other people

01:54as well are trying to improve the squad where possible, but that's not that easy because

01:58we have so many good players yet.

02:00Trent Alexander-Arnold isn't here, you all know he's entering the final year of his contract.

02:05How confident are you that a new one can be agreed and he'll be a Liverpool player?

02:11My answer would probably be a bit boring, and I think it's the same answer you've heard

02:15in the last five, six or seven years, that contract situations are not discussed at this place.

02:21But just keep trying, I would say.

02:24I always will, thank you.

02:27You're welcome.

02:31You mentioned in your first press conference that you were hired partly because you've got

02:34a similar style to how the teams play, but obviously there will be some differences,

02:38so in terms of the players that you do have with you now, how pleased are you with how

02:42they've adapted to what you're asking of them and how valuable has it been the time

02:46you've had to get those messages across?

02:49Like you said, many things will stay the same when it comes to playing style,

02:53but of course there will be a few adjustments because otherwise every manager has his own ideas,

03:00but the general playing style will probably look quite familiar for you guys.

03:07And I think every player, especially if they have had a few weeks off,

03:11they need to adapt to playing with the ball again, so taking that into account,

03:17I think we have made some steps compared to where we started, but that has not so much to do

03:24with implementing new ideas, but it also has to do with players getting used to playing

03:28with the ball again.

03:30But I'm very happy, like I said before, with the energy the team is giving every single day,

03:35which is normal in pre-season because everywhere around the world you hear the same things,

03:40players work really hard, but that's also with us.

03:44So until now I've been happy with the way they did and looking forward to the game tomorrow

03:49to see if we can bring some positives to the game as well.

03:53Has anyone surprised you so far?

03:54I mean, I'm sure you did your research, but it's the one or two you were really for,

03:57I didn't know what you were feeling, was that it?

04:00I don't think anyone that is an established player surprised me

04:05because if you go to one of the best clubs in the world, to the best players in the world,

04:09I don't think you're surprised in terms of quality.

04:11But, like I just mentioned as well, many young players joined us here as well,

04:16and there are a few that surprised me, in a positive way of course.

04:22But if your next question would be who they are, then you're not going to get the answer.

04:29Does Tony know anything about football?

04:35James, move on.

04:38I think they like this joke.

04:42Still that 11 players off the back of the Euros and the Copa America,

04:46will you get a few of those players back over the course of this trip, and if so who and when?

04:51Djokovic is arriving today I think, so he will have his testing day tomorrow

04:56and the day after he will join us in a session.

04:59And I think it's Ibu and Ryan that will join us later in the trip,

05:04and I don't think I forget anyone, and the rest will start

05:08after the trip when we're back in Liverpool.

05:11How about Alisson Becker?

05:13I think he will start also in Liverpool, when we're back in Liverpool.

05:18And just on the topic of transfers,

05:21most clubs in the Premier League have strengthened already,

05:23Liverpool are one of the few that haven't.

05:24Is that more because of you wanting time to fully assess what you've inherited,

05:29or is it more the case that targets aren't available?

05:32What is the main reason?

05:34The first one is one of the reasons which you just said,

05:37so me wanting to assess, is that the right word, the squad,

05:40which is difficult because most of them are still not here.

05:43And the second one also has to do with the difficulty of

05:46if you inherited a team that's really good,

05:49then it's not so easy to find players that are of the same standards or even higher,

05:53especially because those ones need to be available then as well.

05:56But like I said, Richard more than me is really working hard on that as well,

06:01and he keeps me updated every time.

06:03And if there's any news on that, we will come to you.

06:08But like I said, we already have a very good team,

06:13where I am already really happy with,

06:15but it would be a surprise for all of us, I think, if we don't bring any player in.

06:20So that will probably happen in the end.

06:22But for now, we're just waiting for the players to come back

06:28and waiting for the right ones to shine.

06:32Just in terms of Andy Robertson, he wasn't involved in the game against Preston last week.

06:35Is he fully fit now, or are you still able to manage him off the back of the Euros?

06:40He's not fully fit yet, but we're expecting him in the end of the tour,

06:44maybe just after the tour, to be fully fit again.

06:47So he took a small injury into the Euros,

06:52and afterwards he had to recover from that after playing those games.

06:57But we will expect him back after our tour.

07:01But he joined us over here.

07:03What is the problem?

07:05I think that's a medical issue, and that's something we don't share.

07:10So you wouldn't expect him to play any part in the three games he'll be in?

07:12No.

07:14Lewis?

07:15With transfers on, would you say that, from what you've seen so far,

07:19the current squad is good enough to challenge for the goals you've set for the upcoming season,

07:24and therefore new additions would be a bonus to the squad,

07:28or do you think they're needed?

07:30I think the answer lies in last season,

07:32where I think five, six, seven games before the end,

07:34they were still competing with Arsenal and City.

07:36So there you have your answer.

07:38They are good enough to compete.

07:40Since we last spoke to you, you've brought in two coaches,

07:44John Heitinger and Aaron Briggs.

07:46What do they bring to your team?

07:51Premier League experience.

07:53Both of them have worked in the Premier League.

07:55John more recent than Aaron.

07:58Both of them, of course, have their own role in our staff.

08:02I think I said before that Aaron is also the one that's going to bridge the gap

08:06between the youth academy and the first team.

08:08He has an analyst background, so that's a positive thing.

08:12John has played many games in the Premier League,

08:16and last season he was an assistant coach,

08:18that's the way you call it over here as well, at West Ham.

08:23So he brings experience as a player,

08:25but also as an assistant in this league.

08:29And he worked with someone that I know really well,

08:35and the two of us have quite a similar playing style,

08:37so I think it's not going to take long for him

08:39to understand exactly what we want with the players.

08:43The other week you mentioned you'd spoken to Darwin Nunes on the phone.

08:47Have you been in contact with the players that are not here yet,

08:50or is it important for you to give them a bit of space to enjoy the holidays?

08:52Both.

08:54I called them after they went out of every tournament,

08:58and we had a conversation about how the tournament went,

09:00how last season went, and what we expect from them.

09:04The upcoming season, in combination with the amount of days they have off,

09:08and some of them I've spoken to a bit more recently,

09:12and some of them are just enjoying their holidays.

09:17Three more?

09:19I wanted to ask you, except in this job,

09:21how much you thought about the challenge of replacing someone

09:25as successful and popular as Klopp?

09:27How much of the decision to come and take this job,

09:31did you factor in that particular challenge?

09:35I think if you go to one of the biggest clubs in the world,

09:39there's always pressure.

09:41And I've already explained in Liverpool that you can look at it two ways.

09:45You can be afraid for his legacy, but you can also look at the fact

09:49that he left behind a team that can win things.

09:53I've won a few trophies as well at Feyenoord,

09:57and I'm hoping that I can do the same over here as well.

10:01That's the aim we've got, and that's my aim as well.

10:09My question is, how do you prepare for Real Betis?

10:13As a pre-season game, are you more focused on preparing your own club

10:17for the upcoming Premier League season?

10:19I think it's a bit of both, but it's mostly preparing our own team.

10:23But I think part of preparing your own team is also preparing them

10:27for what they can expect tomorrow.

10:29So what kind of press the opponent gives,

10:31and how we then want to play out from the back.

10:33How they want to do build-up and how we have to press them.

10:37So it's a bit of both.

10:39I think until now we've worked mainly on our own ideas,

10:43and tomorrow we will have a meeting where I'm going to share with them

10:46what they can expect from Betis.

10:50When you're on a tour like this, how do you deal with the travel

10:53and the constant shipping from city to city and things like that

10:59as you try to coalesce this team into the regular season?

11:03We have a lot of professionals to make sure that this goes

11:09in the best possible way.

11:11I think it was two days ago where we travelled in a plane

11:15where not everybody will travel with a plane like this.

11:18So we could risk really well.

11:28We have to adjust towards the time zone, of course,

11:31but in terms of travelling I think we could be in a better place

11:34than we were.

11:37Is this a good way for you to start for the tour like this?

11:42I think it's always important to have games where you get a lot of resistance.

11:47Ideally you have your complete team, of course,

11:50but that has nothing to do with if we would have been here

11:53or we would have been in Liverpool.

11:55In both situations we don't have the complete team available.

11:58But if you come over here you have a lot of strong opponents to play against

12:02then I think that immediately also shows you the weaknesses you have as a team

12:07and if you're already competitive enough to start the league in a few weeks.

12:11So that is one of the advantages of coming over here,

12:15that we face three tough opponents.

12:21When you're in a new situation like this,

12:24how much of your time do you spend studying players that you've inherited

12:29and how much do you spend studying the opposition?

12:32Whether it's City or Arsenal or Man U or the entire league,

12:37how much of your time can you find to study the opposition as well?

12:43I think that changes during the season,

12:46so at this moment it's more the full focus is on our own team.

12:50So all our meetings are what do we have to improve,

12:54what can we do better, what do we do really good already?

12:58And then during the season when Ipswich comes up or Brentford or all the other teams,

13:02then you implement the opponent towards your ideas as well.

13:05But in football there are a few systems to play against,

13:09so it could be 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2, but they're not 15-20.

13:14So in these upcoming weeks we try to prepare them for all the systems you can face

13:18during the season in terms of how you want to do build-up

13:21and how you want to press those teams then.

13:24Combined with in this part of the season, of course,

13:27it's very important that players stay fit, stay available,

13:30and go to a next step in terms of match fitness.

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