Slot on transfers, Brentford challenge and Anfield bow (Full Presser)

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot spoke on transfers, the challenge of playing Brentford and his competitive Anfield bow  Melwood, Liverpool, UK

Transcript

00:00Good morning. Good to see you, how are you?

00:11All good.

00:13All good?

00:14All good.

00:154.30 Sunday is a very big moment, I guess, for you,

00:19your Anfield career as Liverpool manager begins.

00:23I'm just wondering how much you're looking forward to it and what you're expecting?

00:28It's not going to be the first taste, because we've played Sevilla already,

00:32but it's clear that it's the first league game at Anfield,

00:35and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm looking forward to every game

00:39I've played in the past as a manager, and also to this one.

00:43It's going to be a big crowd, probably twice as big as the one you played in front of last Saturday.

00:48How do you manage the nerves? Are you a nervous manager?

00:52I hope they are twice as loud as the Ipswich crowd,

00:55because the Ipswich crowd was really, really loud.

00:58So I'm hoping the fans can be twice as loud as the Ipswich ones,

01:02that would be a big help for us.

01:04But no, I'm not nervous at all, certainly not at this moment,

01:07because I'm in the middle of preparation, preparing the team for Sunday,

01:12and actually, no, nerves are not there.

01:17Not even at 4.25 on Sunday?

01:19No, it wouldn't be a good thing.

01:22If you have nerves then probably you don't trust what you did before,

01:25you just don't trust your team.

01:28I trust what we as a staff do during the whole week,

01:31to prepare the team in the best possible way,

01:33and I trust the team a lot as well, again on Sunday.

01:36I know you've been asked in recent weeks about new signings,

01:39and obviously you've been reluctant to talk about them.

01:42Momadash Vili, is that a deal that's done or very close to being done?

01:46I think you know already the answer.

01:49If a deal is done then you will hear from us,

01:52until that moment we don't speak about transfers or players that are not ours.

01:56You don't seem worried at all by any lack of activity?

01:59No, because I trust the team.

02:02As I said many times before, I inherited a real good team,

02:06a team of many young players as well,

02:08and I think we all know that especially young players

02:11can develop at the ages they are on at the moment,

02:14so we just try to work as hard as we can with them,

02:16and we trust them a lot.

02:18They've proven last week that they earned this trust,

02:21and I'm hoping that they show the same on Sunday again.

02:24Good luck, enjoy the day.

02:26Thank you, I will.

02:28Just going on from that theme, there was such a difference

02:32in terms of the first-half performance versus the second-half performance.

02:36How do you feel you are getting on in terms of being able to explain to the players

02:41what it is you want from them, and then buying into that?

02:46I think we're on a good track, if that's the way to say it.

02:50But we have to understand that some of them are only here for three weeks,

02:54and quite a large part of our group is with us for three weeks.

02:59And it's not only about us, it's also about the opponent,

03:03what they bring into the game, and I think I said it before,

03:06that Ipswich put a lot of energy into the first-half

03:10to make it really difficult for us.

03:13Or we stepped up, or Ipswich were not able to keep bringing the same energy

03:19in the second-half, and I think it was a bit of both.

03:24We got a bit more space, and then you can see how well these boys can play.

03:29But there's still a lot of work to do, but it was a good first step,

03:36especially the second-half.

03:38And in making substitutions at half-time,

03:41when you look at the quality of the bench that you've got,

03:44it must be great to see those options that you have,

03:47but in making sure that you are not afraid to make substitutions,

03:51are you partly learning more about the squad that you have,

03:54but also trying to create some competition?

03:57I'm learning every day still about these players,

04:01about the individuals and also how they cooperate with each other.

04:06For me, last week was not only important on Saturday,

04:10this Sunday was also really important, because I learned and saw there

04:14that the ones that didn't play on Saturday

04:16were able to bring a really good training session in on Sunday,

04:19and I think that's a really important thing for a team as well,

04:24because we all know that we're going to need many, many of them

04:28during the season for a lot of game minutes,

04:31so they brought in a really good training session on Sunday,

04:35and that will help them and us for the rest of the season.

04:40Yes, I am still learning new things about the players, which is normal,

04:44because like I just said, with some of them I only work for three weeks,

04:48so I'm still seeing new things from them.

04:53Arna, how's Joe Gomez?

04:55Do you feel like his head's in the right place for this weekend?

04:58Yeah, it's been in the right place for three weeks.

05:02He's worked really hard since he came back,

05:05but he didn't play a lot at the Euros when he came back,

05:10and in the first sessions he couldn't train the whole session,

05:15so we had to manage his load a bit,

05:17and that was also the reason why he wasn't in the team last Sunday.

05:21But this week he had a good week,

05:23in terms of load, how much he could do with the team.

05:28So, yeah, he's one of the players that I see new things from,

05:33and learn things that I see from him, also combined with other players,

05:38so it's been a good week for him and for us still.

05:42And the club have done some notable business with Brentford this window,

05:46just wondering how much admiration you have for their model

05:50and how they go about things on the pitch as well?

05:53Oh, I think they brought in two really talented and good players.

05:59Then you could ask yourself the question, why do they leave?

06:03Both of them have played a lot of minutes last season,

06:06and I think both of them wanted to continue that journey of playing time.

06:10I think they were able to play for us,

06:14but there is so much competition in the positions they play

06:18that they wouldn't play every minute of every single game.

06:22Then it was a good deal, it's a really good deal for us,

06:25and I think it's a good deal for Brentford,

06:27and it's also a good deal for the players.

06:29So, everybody happy, unless they do too well on Sunday!

06:35Do you admire the way Brentford play as well?

06:38Yeah, you can see that their manager is there for a long time already.

06:42In the last game against Crystal Palace they could play a 4-4-2

06:46and a 5-3-2, so they can change systems within a game,

06:50and I think that's hardly impossible if you work with a group for three, four or five weeks,

06:54let alone maybe even after a year it's still not possible,

06:57because it's so difficult to bring the best out of them in one system.

07:01So if you can play two systems with them,

07:03you have to make the conclusion that Thomas Frank is doing a really good job over there

07:08for a lot of years already, and they played a really good first game as well,

07:14as a good pre-season, so it's going to be a challenge for us on Sunday again to play them.

07:21How has Gerard Kwanzaa reacted since being taken off at half-time against Ipswich?

07:27In a way you would expect a player to react,

07:30so I spoke to him immediately after the game,

07:33I spoke to him the day after on Sunday,

07:36and at the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday,

07:40so normally he should have done recovery, he wanted to train.

07:44Unfortunately, I think it was Tuesday that he picked up a bit of an injury,

07:50so he couldn't train on Wednesday, and let's see if he can train today.

07:53But he reacted in a way every player should react,

07:57but I don't think there was that much into it,

08:00although maybe the language was a problem,

08:03because what I said was he did not lose every duel,

08:07but he lost one or two important ones, and one of them was just before half-time.

08:13From what's been told to me, it's like I've said, he lost every duel,

08:17which he did not do, we as a team lost too many duels,

08:21and he lost one or two as well, and this is also what I said to the team the day after,

08:26it was not about Gerard, we as a team didn't do well.

08:29But in my opinion, the only threat at that moment from Ipswich was Dylap,

08:34and he won one or two important duels,

08:37and I was trying to get that strength out of their team by bringing in Ibu.

08:43And you showed a couple of younger players this transfer window,

08:48some fans might be concerned that you might be letting some promising talent go a little too soon,

08:53do you understand where they're coming from?

08:56Yeah, that's always a difficult one, because young players want to play as well,

09:00and if they want to develop they have to play, and it's always like this,

09:04so they come through the ranks of the youth academy,

09:06and either then you're good enough to play for as many minutes or you're still not there,

09:10or there's too much competition in your position.

09:13And I think still this team, with what we have, have a lot of homegrown players,

09:19and one of them is also training with us on a daily basis, but only 17 yet.

09:25So this club will always bring good youngsters,

09:30and it's always a challenge to find the right moment either to play them,

09:34or if they've played quite a lot of minutes they want to make the next step in their career,

09:38and if that is not possible because Virgil van Dijk is playing here,

09:42or Mo Salah is playing here, or all the other top players are playing here,

09:45then it's best for them, and also for the club, to let them go.

09:50Because you always want to take care of your own interests,

09:54but you also have a responsibility to the players,

09:57and if they want to play somewhere and it's not possible with us,

10:00and they're not happy with 500 or 600 minutes,

10:03because these youngsters didn't play much Premier League games,

10:06they played a few games in the cup,

10:09then you have to, in my opinion, let them develop somewhere else.

10:18On the centre-back situation, is it a case of three players competing for one,

10:23or do you see different players coming in, like on Saturday, for different jobs?

10:31Virgil came in a few weeks ago, and in my opinion he made a lot of impact.

10:36He made a lot of impact in all these years he's played here,

10:40but me working with him he's shown how much he cares about the team and how good he is.

10:46But for him, and the same with Mo, like all the others,

10:50they still have to bring their performances in.

10:53So, in my opinion, there are four players having competition for two positions.

10:59But at this moment it's clear that Virgil is playing,

11:03and he's also going to play on Sunday, if he's fit.

11:07You selected Krugberg as the sixth,

11:11and Kess is probably not positioned to play greatly throughout his career.

11:15What do you see as his qualities for that whole playoff season?

11:20I think he brings in certain qualities which we like in that position,

11:25but he only played two games in that position, and he did it really well in both times.

11:31Against United he played well, three games though, against Sevilla and against Ipswich.

11:35Now, only one of them was a game that matters in terms of a Premier League game,

11:41so he has a lot to prove in that position still, but he did well in the first games.

11:47But like with all of them, it's not about the individual,

11:50it's always what the team around them do for him to play a good game,

11:54because if all the other ten would have played shit at Ipswich,

11:57I don't think Ryan would have been able to play a great game.

12:01What he has is he has running capacity, so he can keep on running,

12:05he has a nice height and he's really comfortable with the ball,

12:08so he has some attributes that he could play in that position,

12:13but still a lot to prove for him, as for all the others,

12:16and we have other options in that position as well.

12:19So, interesting competition in many positions, yeah.

12:27Just on Joe Gomez, can I check,

12:29your understanding is you expect him to be here for this season,

12:32you're not expecting any movement on that?

12:34At this moment I'm expecting everyone to be here,

12:37but, like you know, you're maybe even longer in football than I am, looking at you.

12:41LAUGHTER

12:47So everything can change.

12:49One thing I know for sure, Tony is longer in football than I am.

12:54That's it.

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