130425 slot on title and liverpool 2-1 west ham.mp4

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Slot admits Liverpool didn't deserve West Ham win as they edge towards Premier League title  13/04/2025  Anfield, Liverpool, UK

Transcript

00:00I'll put the word quite out of this sentence, it was a big relief.

00:15Because Ali made sure that they didn't score earlier,

00:21they had multiple chances to score the 1-1 in the second half.

00:25Unfortunately they scored one which they didn't score,

00:29and to be completely honest it felt to me like I was expecting two minutes

00:36with maybe three or four months of added time,

00:38but all of a sudden seven minutes were added on.

00:41With no time-wasting at all from both teams, it was a bit of a surprise for me.

00:45But OK, it helped because we scored a goal in extra time.

00:50Was it extra time? Just before.

00:54No, just before.

00:55So, yeah, of course that was a relief because to me it felt after West Ham scored

01:02and the way the second half went it was maybe more than we could expect them scoring.

01:07But our fans and our players fought differently because from the moment they scored the 1-1,

01:12we started playing again, we started pressing again.

01:15the fans were really loud at that moment of time and already the chance from Lucho,

01:20some good counter-press moments which led to the corner kick

01:23and we saved a big set-piece for a very important moment

01:27because in the modern game of football set-pieces, what is that important?

01:32And that's what we saw today again as well.

01:37James?

01:38Virgil comes up with the winning goal on the line of importance to the club.

01:42He just said it on TV that regarding his contract,

01:45that the next week brings.

01:47I think he means, let's see what next week means if we play Leicester City,

01:53because that is at that moment of time by far the most important thing this club is looking at.

01:59Two more wins and I think the first 32 games have shown us how difficult it is,

02:05not only for us but for every team, I repeat,

02:08every team in the Premier League to win a game of football.

02:11So the competition has never been as strong as it is this season

02:14and that's what makes it so hard to win a game of football.

02:17So everybody can say you have to win two, yeah.

02:20We still have to win two.

02:23So we should be completely focused on that

02:25and if in the meantime a contract extension or whatever happens,

02:30but my full focus is on Leicester and I'm sure Virgil's as well.

02:35Yeah, very important.

02:53It would not be completely fair to only talk about them,

02:56but I think what we're as a manager looking for is always the ones

03:01that have achieved already a lot of things in their career

03:03that they step up in the most important moments of the season.

03:07And I think it is always in the end of the season,

03:11moments getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

03:13And today all three of them showed up, not only these three,

03:17but you were asking me about these three.

03:19In big moments, Alisson probably had his best game of the season today.

03:23And Virgil saved, not saved, but he scored the header that got his three points.

03:30And Mo was again very important in the first goal

03:33and he was really lively also in the first half.

03:36So I saw Mo Salah again from most parts of the season.

03:39The first thing that doesn't happen is that they also have players,

03:54and that's what makes the Premier League so strong this season.

03:56I think they are 16 or 17 in the league,

03:58but I can name one or two players that could have easily played with us today as well,

04:02in terms of quality.

04:04So that is where the Premier League is about.

04:06And they used them more and more in the second half,

04:09these two quality players, and they have more,

04:11but I think Paqueta and Kudus were outstanding today, especially in the second half.

04:15And maybe because we were 1-0 up and we conceded one or two chances,

04:19it led to a situation where we were a bit too afraid

04:24or didn't press hard enough anymore.

04:27It's them taking more and more risk, bringing a lot of players into the midfield

04:32and they still had their frat in deep runs with Bissaka, Bowen and all the others.

04:37So, yeah, it was a bit of both, but definitely credits to West Ham as well.

04:43But you only see this here, I see this every game that I watch.

04:47I don't watch every game of the Premier League, but the ones I do.

04:50I thought yesterday after 20 minutes, oh, Crystal Palace is in a good place.

04:55And they could have scored a 3-2, which was fractionally offside,

04:59and they lost 5-2.

05:00So these are the margins there are in the Premier League,

05:02which makes it such a hard league to play in, but also why it's so popular.

05:06Is he injured or is he not being involved today?

05:13No, he went in yesterday because he didn't feel well,

05:18so he went in, so that's why he couldn't be in the team today.

05:22Will?

05:24I think it's the main aim for the club,

05:45because they've experienced two years ago how much of an impact it is

05:49if you are not a part of the Premier League, Champions League, sorry.

05:54So, yes, indeed, the main aim and what they told me is

06:00look at the players, give your opinion about it

06:04so we can go into this project in the second and the first year,

06:08but do qualify for the Champions League.

06:11And we all know that even the team that is at 16 at the moment

06:16has very good players, but the top eight is all of them have incredible players.

06:21So it's getting more difficult and more difficult to qualify for the Champions League.

06:25But to be honest, if you were to ask this question to me

06:29in the beginning of the season I would say,

06:31ooh, nice, but yesterday it wasn't I opened a bottle of wine

06:34because we qualified for the Champions League.

06:36We have now, of course, a bigger aim than only qualifying for the Champions League.

06:40The reaction from the fans after what's that equalized?

06:46Is that one of the reasons you went to the Kop afterwards

06:49that's probably that main thing we've seen after a game this season?

06:52Yeah, and I think because we won the game of football

06:55where maybe for the first time this season

06:58that you could debate if we deserved to win this game.

07:02And then to win it at such a big moment where the fans helped us,

07:06I think that deserves, or how do you say it,

07:12that's why I think I tried to show a bit more

07:14how much I appreciate them through the whole season,

07:17but definitely today.

07:19Peter, last one.

07:20Just wondering, good chance that you have to win it here?

07:23How good would it be to win your first time in Liverpool?

07:26Actually, I haven't been learning about the atmosphere today.

07:29If I have to win it 15 kilometres from here,

07:35or I don't care where to win it.

07:37We know we still have to win two more games,

07:39which is us trying to come back to that every single time.

07:43It has been, in 32 occasions, difficult enough for us.

07:47So first win two, and that's the only thing we should focus on,

07:51and this week we should try to improve, improve, improve more and more

07:55to give ourselves a better chance of winning a game of football next week,

07:59where we face Leicester and everybody can talk, talk, talk.

08:02But what I saw is that for the first time in 11 games

08:05they scored two goals and got a result,

08:07so they probably have a bit more confidence going into that game now.

08:10And we've shown in the last 32 games that there's only been two or three wins

08:15that were quite comfortable, but the rest of them were very, very, very hard work.

08:21And that's our only focus, that's my only focus, winning a game of football.

08:27Thank you, Adrian.

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