Arne Slot refusing to get carried away with Liverpool start ahead of Leipzig

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Arne Slot refusing to get carried away with Liverpool start ahead of Leipzig   21/10/2024  Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, Germany

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00:00Same process as previously, if you'd like to ask a question please raise your hand and

00:18wait for the microphone.

00:19Anyone want to kick us off?

00:20James?

00:21What's the assessment on him since he was forced off at the weekend, is he OK now, the

00:38extent of the injury and how long he'll be out for?

00:39Conor Bradley didn't make the trip, Harvey Elliott didn't make it, Federico Chiesa didn't

00:43make it and Alisson didn't make it, so it means that we have a few issues at the moment.

00:50He got a knock, like we all saw, when he was trying to go, brought down, that was not the

00:59biggest problem but I think the other player fell on to him and that hurt him that much

01:05that he couldn't continue to play and he couldn't come with us for now and it's difficult to

01:10judge at this moment of time to see how long that's going to take.

01:18He fell somewhere over here, so it's bruised, is that the way to say it?

01:24We'll have to see how long it's going to take.

01:26You mentioned those issues piling up and the fixtures keep coming and coming,

01:36does that put a bit of importance to go and get another positive result tomorrow night,

01:41with all these games coming, that you can get your qualifications on as soon as possible in this group stage?

01:47I never think it's a good idea to lose a game, so no matter where you are in the season it's

01:55always better to get the best possible result and that's also what we're trying to bring in tomorrow.

02:00We look at it game by game and we try to bring out the best possible team for tomorrow

02:05for the competition we face with Leipzig, who are doing really well in the Bundesliga,

02:10had the difficulty of playing two very difficult teams in the Champions League,

02:14that's the difficult thing of this format, that after two games you can have a league table

02:20that doesn't tell the whole story, because you can face teams from group four,

02:28or you can face the difficult ones in the beginning, and that's what they had.

02:32So, a very good team, and yes, the fixture list is tough,

02:37but what would you expect if you played Champions League and Premier League?

02:41The fixture list is tough, and that's what we like, that's what we want,

02:45so we have to deal with it and we like to deal with that.

02:49John, Morita's here.

02:51You mentioned the single-league concept, have you got your head around it now, and what do you think?

03:00The concept of this Champions League, I got my head around it,

03:05but I don't think you can have a fair opinion yet,

03:08because we're only two games into the Champions League now.

03:12If you would say to me, OK, tell me what you think about it,

03:15because I want to have an answer, I would tell you, OK, I like it,

03:17but that has only to do with us having six points out of two games.

03:21That has nothing to do with the format.

03:24We have to wait and see what the end result of this format is,

03:29and you can only judge that after the group stage is done,

03:33and then see if me, or you, or the fans like this new format.

03:40Jürgen, do you think it will be an incentive further down the line,

03:47if things continue to go well, to cast the thought ahead

03:52to what you see there might be in the knockout stages, or am I looking too far ahead?

03:57No, what you're doing is using quite difficult English words.

04:01So I need a translation for this now, if we keep on going like this...

04:07John, can you explain that?

04:09So, depending on where you finish in the table,

04:13will determine potentially which side of the draw you'll be in, in the knockout stages?

04:19That's true, yeah, but we don't know the other teams that are left and right,

04:23so we all can come up with certain teams you don't want to come up against

04:29immediately after you go through to the next round,

04:32but first you have to go through to the next round.

04:34But you don't know if they end up 1-2-3, or if they lose a few games in the meanwhile,

04:39so that is the difficulty of this format.

04:43Although, when it's just a draw, you also don't know who you're going to face.

04:47Although, maybe it's a bit...

04:50Then you know you're going to face the number two or the number one.

04:54Now you just don't know, so it's so difficult for me to say if I like this or not.

04:58I think if we reach the next round and the draw is good for us,

05:03then I definitely like it, but let's wait and see.

05:12Just going back to the injuries, you said Conor and Federico,

05:18how often do you get a time-scan on them,

05:20when they say it's going to take a while to recover or are they fine?

05:27I think it's always so difficult with injuries,

05:30especially if it just happens, it's so difficult to see where they are after a few days.

05:36I think after a few days you can better say where they are with Federico.

05:40It's a bit more simple, although it's more difficult,

05:43but it's a bit more simple to explain.

05:44He missed a complete pre-season, I've said this many times,

05:48and going to a league where the intensity might even be higher than the Italian league.

05:56We just faced the two Italian teams, so I can say this now.

06:00That makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels

06:07the rest of the team is at at the moment.

06:09That has not so much to do with the Italian league or the Premier League,

06:12but it has more to do with him missing a complete pre-season.

06:16It's so difficult for every player, when the games are constantly there,

06:21to build them up towards the levels we are at.

06:25It's difficult to say, but it's a big disappointment for him

06:29that he is going in and out of the training sessions all the time.

06:34I feel sorry for him, but he signed a long-term contract,

06:39so we will see what he brings for us.

06:43But at the moment, unfortunately for him, he's been here one or two times

06:48in the team selection and not more than that.

06:55You have such a great start and a special infrastructure,

06:59but what is it particularly you're looking for more,

07:02which is now that you're still looking for more and more,

07:04is there anything in particular you're looking for in the team?

07:08Yeah, you can't ask for much more when it comes to results,

07:14but when it comes to what we want, there's always room for improvement.

07:19I don't think we outplayed Chelsea, we certainly didn't.

07:25I think they were more dominant than us with the ball,

07:28so in an ideal world I would have seen us dominating the complete game

07:31like we did so many other games.

07:34We are not there yet, but the good thing about this team and our result

07:37was that if you face a team like Chelsea or Man Utd,

07:42because we had difficult moments in the United game as well,

07:44that you see a team that's fighting for every centimetre, every metre,

07:48fighting for every moment that can be decisive in the game,

07:51and that's what we showed.

07:54I'm hoping that in the future, hopefully in the near future,

07:57we play a difficult game like the Milan game or the United game,

08:01that we are more dominant than we were against Chelsea.

08:05But probably that says a lot about Chelsea as well,

08:08because I said it before the game and I can say it one more time,

08:13a lot of people in England in the start of the season made a bit of fun about them,

08:16investing so much money and all these players that were not in the squad,

08:22but in my opinion, they've done really well in the last one or two years,

08:25bringing so many talented players in, and now having such a strong squad

08:29with such a good manager, that they will be up there in the upcoming years.

08:33That's my opinion, and let's see if I'm right.

08:39Any more last ones?

08:44All done? Thank you.

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