Liverpool head coach Arne Slot on his first Champions League debut at AC Milan

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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot on his first Champions League debut at AC Milan  16/09/2024  Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Italy

Transcript

00:00Hello again. Exactly the same process as with Alisson, we have simultaneous translation on headsets.

00:09If you could raise your hand if you would like to ask a question.

00:12Gary?

00:13We missed him. I missed him for a while.

00:16Oh, yeah, he followed you, didn't he?

00:18No, no, no.

00:20Oh, yes, I need this one.

00:23Hello there. San Siro, first game in charge of Liverpool in the Champions League,

00:29and your birthday.

00:31Tomorrow it is, yes.

00:33Congratulations. Hopefully lots more to celebrate as well.

00:38How big a night will this be for you in your career so far?

00:41Yeah, I think it's the first time that my birthday is not so important tomorrow.

00:49It's a big game, not for me, yeah, also for me, but it's a big game for us

00:54because it's the first game and it's the next game,

00:56and the next game is always the most important one, as you know.

01:01But because of the history that these two teams have and the venue where it's played in,

01:08it's one to look forward to.

01:14Last question from Hungarian RTL Television.

01:16Question about Dominic Szaboszlai.

01:20There will be another celebration.

01:23If he plays, it will be his 50th game in Liverpool.

01:28So far he played all four games full-time, 90 minutes.

01:34How important is his role for you in the team?

01:40I think all of the squad players I have, they have an important role,

01:43and he's played all four of them now.

01:46Every player feels more important when he plays than when he's not playing,

01:49but every squad member has his role, and during a season all of them will play a lot

01:54because we play a lot of games.

01:56But he's been important for us, especially until now in our work,

02:02when we don't have the ball, so he's been outstanding in his pressing game.

02:06And I think something that we have to work on with him

02:12is that he's also even more involved in scoring goals and creating chances for us,

02:18I think last season he scored three, if I remember correctly.

02:22And for an attacking midfielder at Liverpool, his numbers need to go up,

02:26but I'm really happy with the way he's done until now,

02:30and I'm 100 per cent sure that if he plays in a team with so much quality around him

02:35and with the quality he has, that he will in the end score more goals for us as well.

02:49Good evening, Mr Slot, my name is Paolo Vinci. Can you hear me?

02:54Yes, I can.

02:55OK.

03:01I would like to ask you the following.

03:04You have been telling about the history of AC Milan,

03:07the history of Liverpool, great teams and great games.

03:12In this very moment, are you scared about something related to AC Milan,

03:17or are you scared by some players,

03:20some players you would not like to see tomorrow in AC Milan?

03:27I don't know if the translation is correct, but the word scared was used,

03:32if I was scared for some players or for AC Milan.

03:35I don't think any manager or any team is scared to play the other team,

03:39but we have a lot of respect for the quality and the players and the history of Milan.

03:44The first one that comes to my mind is of course a Dutch player,

03:49Tietjani Reinders, who has done really well over here

03:51and also for the Dutch national team last week.

03:53So they have quality players, we're not scared,

03:55but we do respect the quality of the players and the history of AC Milan.

04:01Good evening.

04:02Good evening.

04:03Good evening.

04:04Good evening.

04:05Good evening.

04:06Good evening.

04:07Good evening.

04:08Good evening.

04:09Good evening.

04:10Good evening.

04:11Good evening.

04:12Good evening.

04:13Good evening.

04:14Good evening.

04:15Good evening.

04:16Good evening.

04:17Good evening.

04:18Good evening.

04:19Good evening.

04:20Good evening.

04:21Good evening.

04:22Good evening.

04:23Good evening.

04:24Good evening.

04:25Good evening.

04:26Good evening.

04:27Good evening.

04:28Good evening.

04:29Good evening.

04:30And happy birthday for tomorrow.

04:32Well, you listen.

04:33I was kind of surprised before,

04:36because the English colleagues are talking about a disappointment

04:40because you lost the game on Saturday.

04:46Alisson said that you need to be back to a good path.

04:50Alisson said this,

04:53but you have won the first three games

04:57and you only lost one.

04:59So is this disappointment that great, that big?

05:02What are the other things?

05:04We have to put right afterwards.

05:08Oh, yeah.

05:09We have to be better.

05:11Yeah.

05:12Not only the journalists were disappointed about the result from us

05:16against Nottingham Forest,

05:17the team and me were really disappointed as well.

05:20Although we always put it in the right perspective

05:23when we beat United,

05:25the journalists and us were really positive, of course.

05:28But I also saw things we had to improve.

05:31And last Saturday we didn't do as many things good as we did against United,

05:36but there were still a few things that went quite well.

05:39But it was a totally different game, and that's also for tomorrow.

05:42I expect a completely different game against Milan

05:44with the type of players they have and the playing style that manager has

05:49compared to Nottingham Forest.

05:51But we should be disappointed.

05:53If you lose a home game against Nottingham Forest

05:55and you play for and you work for Liverpool,

05:57if you're not disappointed.

05:59If you drop points in a home game against Nottingham Forest,

06:02then something is wrong.

06:04So, yeah, four games, nine points.

06:08It's a good start, but it's not a great start

06:10because then we would have had 12.

06:13Arno, good evening.

06:14Ian Dennis, BBC Radio.

06:15In the old Champions League format,

06:17if you won your home games or got to 10 points,

06:20there was a fair chance that you would qualify.

06:22I'm just intrigued to think how many points you think

06:25might be required in this new phase,

06:27and also what are your thoughts about the revamped Champions League format?

06:32A lot of questions in one.

06:34I think it's difficult for me to tell you now how many points are needed

06:38because it's the first time we play this competition

06:42and it's eight games.

06:44I've been in Europe for a few years with my former clubs

06:48and sometimes we went through to the next round,

06:50I think one time even with six points or seven points,

06:53and we ended up number one in the group.

06:55So that is difficult to say before you start,

06:59but I think it's clear that if you want to end up in the first eight,

07:02you have to win a lot of games.

07:03You need a lot of points.

07:08And what I think about the format,

07:10that's also something you can ask me better in the end.

07:13The only thing I like about it,

07:15just as someone who loves to see football every night on television,

07:18is that on every night there's a nice fixture.

07:21Where in the former format, sometimes there were evenings

07:25where you're like, OK, tomorrow is a nicer game than today.

07:28But now, for example, with our game tomorrow,

07:31I think everybody who loves football is looking forward to that game.

07:34So that is the positive thing for the person

07:37that sits at home in front of his television.

07:39How is it going to be for the players with two extra games?

07:42How is it going to be exciting in the end of the group stage as well?

07:46That's something that we have to find out

07:48and I don't think anyone has the answer to that at the moment.

07:51But if you ask me these questions in a few months,

07:54I can answer it probably much better than I can answer it now.

07:59After the defeat on Saturday,

08:01a lot has been made about rotation or lack of rotation,

08:04especially from your teams in the past.

08:07But with the fixtures coming now, thick and fast,

08:10and more Champions League games, are you going to have to rotate?

08:14Should we expect to see changes in different games now going forward?

08:21If rotation would be the reason why you don't win a game,

08:24then it probably wouldn't be the first game I lost in 2024 last Saturday

08:30because I found indeed we didn't rotate a lot.

08:33So for me, but everybody can have his own opinion,

08:37it's too simple to put this loss on rotation.

08:40It's because I think too many players didn't reach their normal level,

08:44and that was not only the ones that started, but also the ones that came in.

08:50For me, it had a lot to do with the playing style of the opponent

08:53who made it really difficult for us.

08:55But in the end, if you don't win,

08:58you try to look at as many arguments as you can find.

09:01And also, I ask myself the question,

09:04does it have to do with the things you said?

09:07But I prefer to look the game back and see what we did well,

09:11what we didn't do well, and I think we could have done a lot of things much better.

09:15That was not related towards rotation.

09:18But we would never know if I would have rotated three or four new players in

09:22if we would have won then.

09:24But this is going to be a long answer.

09:27I think it was the day before the press conference,

09:29someone said to me,

09:30ten of your players have started for the national team.

09:34So which ones were completely rested then?

09:40Now I can do something about rotation in the upcoming games

09:43because they're all with me.

09:45But before that, they were with the national team

09:47and almost all of them played two times 90 minutes.

09:53But I think they were prepared for that.

09:55We tried to prepare them for that.

09:58For me, this loss didn't have to do with rotation,

10:01but more to do with the opponent

10:03and us not bringing too many players what they can bring.

10:13Good evening, Mr Slot.

10:17Could you please tell us why did you want Federico Chiesa at Liverpool?

10:22What did you see in Federico Chiesa?

10:24What did you like about him?

10:25Will he be on the bench tomorrow?

10:29What we like about why we brought him in

10:31and what we like about him.

10:32I always like to bring in quality players

10:34and we believe and I think that he's a quality player

10:37that combines quality with an enormous work rate.

10:40And the culture of this club and the culture of this team

10:44is working really hard when we don't have the ball

10:46and I think he brings this to his game

10:48in combination with scoring goals,

10:51in combination with he can play in several positions up front.

10:56He is for the first time in our team selection.

11:03Since I said it's the first time he's in team selection,

11:06it would be a big surprise for him and for everyone

11:08if he would start tomorrow.

11:12I don't think you should expect that he starts,

11:14but he can make a few minutes for the first time tomorrow

11:17if we need him.

11:19And that is something we will see tomorrow.

11:21But for the first time with us,

11:24and don't expect him to be there in the starting line-up

11:29because he's been with you for training on his own for a long time.

11:34Now with us for a few weeks, he has some training time.

11:36So it's too early for him to play 90,

11:38but hopefully he can make his first minutes

11:41in the upcoming fixtures.

11:44Welcome to Milan, Mr Slot.

11:46My name is Marco Bidi from Gazzetta dello Sport.

11:50In Italy, there is always a large debate

11:53regarding Rafael Leao, regarding his football,

11:55his style of football.

11:57You have trained great wingers, Salah, Luis Diaz,

12:00now you have Federico Chiesa and many quality players.

12:03Regarding Leao, do you think that he is already a top player

12:07or he still has a long way to go to become a top player?

12:11He still has a long way to go to become one of them.

12:14Do you have something special tomorrow to stop him?

12:22You were asking me if he's already a special player,

12:24and there's a lot of talks about him, you said.

12:27I didn't know, but that's what you told me.

12:29And I think that means that he's a top player.

12:31But because people always talk about the top players,

12:34they don't talk about the players that are underneath.

12:38We know his quality.

12:41We've studied, of course, the Milan team.

12:44One of the ones that catches your eye is definitely Rafael Leao.

12:49How do we try to stop him not being at his best?

12:53That's always a team performance thing.

12:55We need to defend as a team really well

12:58to stop the likes of Rafael Leao.

13:01But they have more quality in the team

13:03and more special players than only Rafael Leao.

13:07He's definitely one of their top players, in my opinion.

13:17A quick question regarding McAllister,

13:19a very important and crucial player for you.

13:22I would like to know from you whether he's included

13:27in the rotation you were mentioning before.

13:32I have only important players.

13:34All 23 I took to the Milan game tomorrow

13:38are very important to me and to the club.

13:43I think you saw I took him off after 60 minutes,

13:46somewhere around 60 minutes, against Nottingham Forest.

13:50That also had to do with him not playing the full 90 minutes

13:54with the national team, being out for a few days with an injury.

13:57That had a bit to do with rotation.

14:04But I think he's able to play tomorrow, again, 60 or 90 minutes

14:08and we will see the decision I make tomorrow.

14:10But he's definitely, like the other 22, an important player for us.

14:34.

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