Slot on Liverpool latest ahead of Merseyside derby trip to Everton

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Slot on Liverpool latest ahead of Merseyside derby trip to Everton  11/02/2025  AXA Training Centre, Liverpool, Uk

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00:00I thought it was somewhere deep down in your pocket.

00:09First of all, Arno, can we check on Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez

00:13and their respective injuries?

00:15Trent has done parts of training sessions with us,

00:20not sessions, session yesterday, so let's see how he is today.

00:27He will train, hopefully, with us again,

00:29and then we have to decide if we take him to the game, yes or no.

00:32And Joe, it's his same leg where he had the injury last time,

00:37we are still assessing that, but he will definitely not be available tomorrow.

00:41The fact it's the same, how much of a concern is that?

00:44That's mostly a concern, that's mostly a concern.

00:47Obviously we weren't necessarily talking up the chance of a quadruple,

00:51but the chance of winning all four trophies has now gone,

00:54what impact does that have, if any impact at all?

00:58It should have impact, because if you're working in a club like this

01:01you should compete for every trophy, we've said that from the start.

01:05And then to go out in the second occasion, so we beat Ackford and Stanley,

01:11but to lose against Plymouth is of course not acceptable.

01:14So, as a team, and I think our fans as well are disappointed by that result,

01:22and now we have to show a different side of us tomorrow,

01:29because it wasn't only the result,

01:32the performance was far from what Liverpool standards are as well.

01:37Both Liverpool and Everton are tied on 41 Merseyside derby victories

01:41at Crookston Park, with that in mind as well,

01:44what consideration do you also have to give to it being the last ever

01:47Merseyside derby at Crookston Park?

01:50Sorry?

01:51I just wonder what consideration you have to give to it being the last ever

01:54Merseyside derby at Crookston Park as well,

01:57because there will be a lot of emotion, certainly from an Evertonian perspective,

02:00behind that, and maybe that can impact the atmosphere on the night as well.

02:04Yeah, I think it's an extra reason why the atmosphere will probably be even better

02:09than all the occasions before, but I haven't been to one,

02:13but people tell me at Crookston Park as at Anfield,

02:17but it's always a fantastic atmosphere.

02:21Home supporters are there to support their team,

02:24and the away fans are mostly loud as well.

02:27So it's probably going to be a fantastic atmosphere,

02:31and that's never easy to play against,

02:36because every single time they cross the halfway line

02:41or they get a corner kick or whatever happens,

02:43the fans will cheer for that, and then you have to be mentally really strong

02:46as an away team to resist all that complete atmosphere,

02:52and you still have to be focused on what you have to do,

02:55defending the corner kick, defending the set-piece,

02:58and when you have the ball, be as calm as you can in this fantastic atmosphere.

03:02But it's not the first time for these players that they are playing in atmospheres like this,

03:07so I hope that they can focus on what they have to do.

03:11But it's not only tactical, you also have to stand up to those emotions,

03:16because I've noticed that also in the Plymouth game,

03:20the intensity of the tackles, how aggressive they were,

03:25that was a quality of their players,

03:27but it was definitely also because of the emotions in the stadium,

03:30so we have to be up for that.

03:32I've seen the game of last season, for example,

03:36and I think we were quite ready,

03:39because after ten minutes the referee blew his whistle 11 times,

03:42and ten times in favour of Everton,

03:45so the Liverpool players were ready to compete,

03:48but every time they touched him it was a free kick.

03:51So I assume our players are ready for another battle tomorrow,

03:56for the simple reason that they've been ready for the whole season,

03:59and many of them are experienced for this time.

04:03Jürgen, because of the atmosphere,

04:06how important is keeping a cool head in a situation like this for the players?

04:12Yeah, cool heads, but not cool legs.

04:16Every time you play against a team that wants to fight with you,

04:23and that's almost every time we play against any opponent,

04:26but maybe this one even more, you have to be ready for that,

04:30so you have to run just as much, you have to be just as intense in tackles.

04:34Not going across the line, but be cool enough to play a good and firm tackle.

04:42That's where it starts with, and then nine out of ten times,

04:47after 10, 15, 20 minutes, the game settles down a bit

04:50and then you can start to think even more about playing football.

04:55But like I said, last season in the first ten minutes

04:58there were ten free kicks in favour of Everton,

05:00and I think you know what they did with these free kicks,

05:03they brought them in every single time.

05:05And it led, in the end, I think after 10, 15 minutes, to their 1-0.

05:09So, yeah, cool heads, but not cool legs.

05:16How different do you think is the challenge of this Everton, David Moyes,

05:20to the one you would have faced in the original fixture early in December,

05:23when obviously Everton were struggling at that point?

05:27Yeah, they were to a certain extent.

05:29I think they picked up some good results as well away at City

05:32and I think away at Arsenal as well, some clean sheets, some draws.

05:36I think those were very good results from an Everton perspective as well,

05:40if you have to play away games like that.

05:44But, yeah, you cannot... Let's say it differently.

05:49I'm aware of the fact that David took over four games and he's won three,

05:54so that is definitely a great accomplishment from him,

05:59and they are definitely maybe now in a better place

06:02than they were a few weeks, months ago.

06:07But, yeah, the weather circumstances are a bit better maybe as well.

06:13Seven out of the last 10 Merseyside derbies at Goodison Park have been draws.

06:18What does that tell you, and has that played a part in your preparations for this one?

06:24No, it definitely tells you how difficult it is for both teams to win from each other.

06:31So when David Moyes came there in 2002,

06:34he took a team that was fighting against relegation

06:37and he made it a club that was in the end playing top four.

06:40So he's done incredibly well, but the last few seasons,

06:45Everton were not competing top four anymore.

06:52So a team like that normally, Liverpool, would get more wins

06:58against teams that are around Everton than the ones they did over here.

07:02So it tells you how difficult the away leg for Liverpool is if they play Everton away.

07:08And, yeah, that we all know because as long as I'm in football,

07:12I know that derbies are always more difficult than facing the same team

07:17that's somewhere around that position in the table,

07:19but then it is in the derby, that's clear,

07:22because fans bring the best out of players.

07:24I've experienced this a few times already here at Anfield,

07:27I've experienced this many times at my former club,

07:30and I hope I'm not going to experience that tomorrow,

07:33but I think the fans will bring the best out of the Everton players tomorrow again.

07:37This is the first of five games in 15 days in the Premier League for you,

07:42some really big, important games in there as well.

07:45Will this period here define your Premier League season?

07:49No, because this period, five games in 15 days, is what we've done for seven months now.

07:55So every phase of the season is crucial if you play in the Premier League.

07:59This is the hardest league to win, because there are so many teams that can win this league,

08:05and there are so many teams that are able to win 10, 15 games in a row.

08:10So you cannot slow down or you cannot have a few games that you are not on top of your game,

08:17because then all of a sudden another team catches you up.

08:22That's what the Premier League is, that's why it's such an exciting league

08:25and such a beautiful league to work in,

08:27and for the fans that's why the whole world is looking at us.

08:30For that reason, in my opinion, Arsenal last season, after they went to Qatar,

08:34I think they won the first eight games and only lost two of the last 15 or 17.

08:39But still, City were able to win the league,

08:43because they probably won every single game, I don't know exactly.

08:47So, yeah, that's the league we are in.

08:49The upcoming five are important, but the nine afterwards are important.

08:53But the first... How many games did we play? 23, something like this? 24?

08:59It has been just as important.

09:05I see no-one wants to get knocked out of a cup competition,

09:08but the one plus can be the freedom of space,

09:12can you be able to manage the workload for the two competitions and one final?

09:19There was a wise man that once said to me,

09:22nothing good comes from losing a football game, and I completely agree.

09:27So we would definitely have preferred to play six games in 18 days,

09:32or seven in 21, or eight in 24, because that's the schedule we are in.

09:37Now, with us losing this game, there's one moment where we have a normal week,

09:43but that's definitely not what we wanted when we went to Plymouth.

09:48So we were... How should I say this?

09:54It was difficult because the plan was, of course, to play with Joe for 60 minutes or longer.

10:01The plan was to start Curtis, but he came out Sunday saying he didn't feel well enough to play.

10:10So then all of a sudden we missed two important players.

10:14I think people know Darwin's situation, that he became a dad one or two days before the game,

10:20and that happened in Spain, so he came in a bit later.

10:24So there were some circumstances that weren't perfect when it comes to...

10:29The idea was to play with an even stronger team than we did now,

10:33but still this team should have been able to win that game.

10:38And the fact that we didn't, and we didn't against PSV as well,

10:42also tells us that these players definitely need these games to get the best out of them,

10:47because it's so difficult to get the best out of them if they hardly play any games.

10:51And that's why, again, it's disappointing that we don't have this extra game for them in 18 days.

11:00We've spoken a lot about fast tasks over the course of the season,

11:04and you've seen Everton start really fast in the last two or three games,

11:08it's really like a half-time.

11:10If you look at the away games, Liverpool haven't won this season,

11:13they've been behind at half-time against Newcastle, Arsenal and Forest.

11:17How important do you think that early period of the game is going to be?

11:22I think 90 minutes of the game are very important,

11:26first 10 minutes or first 15 minutes.

11:29In an away game it's even more important not to go behind,

11:32because if you go behind then the fans are having even more emotions

11:36and they cheer for everything.

11:38If you kick a ball outside the stadium they still cheer,

11:41but if you are 1-0 down and you do the same they are all booing you.

11:44So it's definitely important in an away game not to go behind.

11:47The reasons why we drop points against the teams you just said

11:51is probably more because these teams have a lot of quality,

11:55and for that reason we went a goal behind.

11:59Then it has to do with us starting not so well,

12:02because I said it before, but at Forest the first five minutes we started really well,

12:07but one counter-attack led to their goal.

12:11So, yes, it's important in an away game to control the emotions of the crowd,

12:16and the worst thing you can do is come a goal behind,

12:20and the emotions will be there for as long as...

12:24Till the moment you have a two-goal lead,

12:27but till then the emotions will be very positive for the home team.

12:31That's why being focused and concentrated in an away game

12:35is even more important than in a home game.

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