Slot on Liverpool's style and fitness after 1-0 Betis pre season win

NicheSportMedia

Slot on Liverpool's style and fitness after 1-0 Betis pre season win  27/07/2024  Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Transcript

00:00How did you sort of see that game, getting the win on your first match as Liverpool manager?

00:27I think there were a few positive things and of course a few things we have to improve.

00:31A positive thing is that we kept a clean sheet.

00:34I think we only conceded one big chance and that was somewhere around the last ten minutes of the game.

00:40So we controlled the game really well and in between we had a few good attacks

00:46where we created a few good chances and scored a good goal.

00:49So that were the positives from this game.

00:51How much was the team in your own image, the style of play, the formation,

00:55and how much of it was out of necessity because you don't have that many players available?

01:00I think during the season you will see us play with a real striker.

01:06But at this moment we have no-one available and then with Dom and Harvey we've got two number 10s

01:11so we put them in the position they will play during the season as well.

01:14So that was one of the reasons why we played with a double 10 instead of a striker.

01:18That is maybe out of necessity.

01:20But for the rest, the style of play with trying to build up from the back,

01:26that is our style to control the game, to not concede constant counter-attacks.

01:31That will hopefully be our style during the season.

01:35There were also, of course, many things we can improve but that's normal after two weeks.

01:42We haven't seen Vajetic in game action for quite some time.

01:45What were your thoughts on his performance?

01:48I think you have to take into account with Stefan that he was out for a year,

01:52one and a half year almost.

01:54So if a young player is out for that long you have to give him some time.

01:57But I saw today already a few good moments from him.

02:00And also a few moments where he got caught because he acted a bit too slow.

02:06But I think that's normal if you've been out for such a long time.

02:09Then you need rhythm, you need game time to grow even further.

02:12But I think he showed some good moments during the half hour that he played.

02:18You talked about wanting to play out of the back.

02:20The teams pressed pretty heavily for most of this game, pretty high up the field.

02:23How do you feel your team coped with being able to play out of the back

02:26under that pressure in the first weeks of the game here?

02:29I think we pressed them higher than they did us.

02:32We won the ball back a lot of times high on their half.

02:36But there were moments that they pressed us high.

02:40We played through their press a few times really good.

02:43So the goal was an example of that in the second half.

02:45Our biggest chance of the second half was an example of that as well.

02:49But I also saw moments where we lost the ball too simple

02:53or we made the wrong choices.

02:55And I think that's normal after two weeks of trying to implement

03:00more control from the back.

03:05So we take some positives and we take some things

03:07which we can and have to improve,

03:09especially with the likes of Arsenal and Man United coming up.

03:14You just coached Liverpool for the first time in front of fans.

03:18How did that feel for you personally?

03:23If I'm coaching my team, I'm only focused on 11 players.

03:26What can they do? What can they do better?

03:28Which positions do they have to take? Which choices do they make?

03:31So I'm not so aware constantly of coaching Liverpool

03:34or the amount of fans that are there.

03:36My focus is mainly on the team and where can I help them

03:39during the game or during half-time.

03:41So of course it's a nice experience to play in front of the fans

03:45because they were there with a lot of people,

03:47even over here in the USA.

03:50But like I said, mainly focused on the players

03:55and not as much focused on the fans.

03:58But it's nice to play in front of them and to have them here as well.

04:02How is Curtis? Obviously we saw him come off.

04:06He was talking about how excited he was about being part of the team

04:10and potentially getting a chance to show what he can do.

04:13How is he personally as well? I know he really wanted a chance to impress.

04:17Yeah, it's always a pity if he has to go out after 25 minutes, half an hour.

04:23And before that you could see that he was not completely free.

04:28So it was unfortunate because he had two really good weeks

04:31during training sessions.

04:33So I look forward to seeing him in the game.

04:35But unfortunately he had to go out.

04:37The good thing about that was that we brought someone

04:39that impressed me in the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterwards.

04:47That was the positive thing of Curtis going out for Trey.

04:50But of course for Curtis it's a pity that he couldn't play on.

04:55Trey's just turned 17. How much of a talent is he?

05:00I think he did really well today, but it was only an hour.

05:06Like I said, he did well.

05:08He was one of the reasons why we scored the goal.

05:11Because he turned really quickly and spot on pass in between the lines.

05:15And he was also involved in the biggest chance in the second half.

05:18So he did well, but he just turned 17.

05:21His body has to grow and we are really careful with him

05:24so he doesn't join every session and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier.

05:28Because like you said, he only turned 17 and you can see his quality,

05:33but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow

05:40to play at Premier League level.

05:43But he showed some interesting things today.

05:46What was the field condition like?

05:48This is normally a US football field.

05:50Had it been expanded for European soccer?

05:53No, the field was really good.

05:56I sprinkled it. It was full of grass.

06:00I think the field suited the way we wanted to play.

06:04We did lose the ball a few times, but that had nothing to do with the field.

06:09That had to do with the individual performance of some players

06:13and the choices they made.

06:16But the losses of the ball had nothing to do with the pitch.

06:19The pitch was perfect.

06:21On Jones, was it a precaution or could he be facing a third time out?

06:26Is it too early to tell yet?

06:28I think that's too early to tell, but he maybe could have played on,

06:33but I think you could see that he was not at 100%.

06:36Then in a friendly game with so many days coming up in our tour as well,

06:42it's best to take him off.

06:44Hopefully he can recover really fast, but we have to wait and see.

06:48But we hope he recovers really fast so we can see him in the next few games.

Category

Transcript

Recommended