Slot on Liverpool's 2-2 Arsenal draw and Trent's mixed reception

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Slot on Liverpool's 2-2 Arsenal draw and Trent's mixed reception  11/05/2025  Anfield, Liverpool, UK

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00:00That was the first Trent question.

00:09What did you think about Trent?

00:12I'd rather ask you about the game, but as you said about Trent, what did you think about it?

00:17I said to everyone that asked me that question,

00:20that it is a privilege to live in Europe where everybody can have his own opinion

00:24and everybody can express his own opinion.

00:27That is something that we saw today as well.

00:30A few of them were not happy with him.

00:33I think all of them were not happy with him leaving the club,

00:35but a few of them showed it in a way that they booed him and a few of them clapped.

00:40The only thing I can say about it is that I owe it to the players and to the club

00:46and to the staff for everyone that worked so hard for us to win a game of football.

00:51To try to do that.

00:53If we are after 17 minutes 2-2, Conor can't continue and I have a world-class full-back on the bench,

01:00I bring him in and I think it's a big compliment for him because you can understand

01:04how mixed the emotions were in his head probably as well.

01:07That you bring in a performance like that tells you why I think,

01:11why everybody thinks he's a world-class full-back.

01:14Because with him we were quite close to winning this game.

01:18And that's what I owe to the players in the dressing room that work so hard every single day

01:23to make decisions to try to win the game.

01:26Do you feel sorry for him on a personal level?

01:28Because you've clearly worked with him for so many months,

01:30he's been outstanding for you for this club.

01:33It must be difficult for Trent right now.

01:36It's definitely difficult for him because I think he said himself how difficult it was to leave this football club.

01:44And that is something that is important for us to hear as well

01:47because we have to make it as difficult as possible.

01:50And fortunately for us many stay like Virgil and Mo.

01:54Trent made the decision to go but yeah, it is the way you want to look at it.

01:58I don't know, I haven't asked him but maybe he's positively surprised how the reactions were today.

02:03I don't know because I haven't spoken to him but it was clear that they were mixed reactions

02:08so it wasn't all negative.

02:10And as it went onwards, the moment he had to take a free kick,

02:13everybody was cheering for him for him to score and he was close.

02:17So I'm not even sure if he has negative feelings about today, maybe, maybe.

02:24But again, I haven't spoken to him.

02:28It's not even that negative as you think it is.

02:33Honour, do you not feel that there was a bit of a distraction to the performance

02:38when he entered the pitch and maybe the rest of the team were distracted by what was going on?

02:43No, I'm glad you asked that question because that was the positive thing about it.

02:48The moment he ended the pitch, I think three or four minutes later,

02:51also after we've made the substitution to bring an extra attacker in to try to,

02:55even though we were not in the best part of our game,

02:58but we did brought Djokovic Jota in to play up front together with Darwin Nunez,

03:02and from that moment on we took the game because immediately it was the yellow card

03:06as a result of the red card.

03:08So I didn't feel any distraction, that was something I have to give him credit for,

03:12but also the team.

03:13I think in the last 15-20 minutes we were the best 15-20 minutes of the second half,

03:19but that wasn't that difficult after the first 20.

03:22He said it was a few, it was more than a few,

03:27but he moved his every touch when he came up.

03:30That must be very hard for him to take.

03:32Yeah, but there were also more than a few that clapped for him.

03:34So the word few, yeah, I don't know, I couldn't count them,

03:38but was it half-half, was it 60-40? I have no clue.

03:41Yeah, 60 positive and 40 negative or the opposite?

03:47More negative.

03:49Okay.

03:50Yeah, but I think if you clap it's not as loud as if you boo.

03:53But I didn't count the amount of people that were booing

03:56and the ones that clapped for him, but like I said,

04:00they have the right to express their opinion.

04:02I think the first thing they did is give credit to Steven Gerrard one more time

04:06for the player he's been for this club.

04:09Then they sang for Conor Bradley, who deserved that completely

04:13because he played great 60-70 minutes long,

04:17although we had to block the cross with the 2-1,

04:19but that I will tell him this week.

04:21But he played really well and then afterwards,

04:25if you tell me it was 60-40, 50-50, 40-60, I don't know,

04:28but what I do know is clapping is not as loud as booing.

04:33Can I just ask you about the next time you're here with the trophy presentation,

04:37do you have to give serious consideration to whether Trent is involved in that game?

04:41Because booing in any shape or form will take the edge off that one too.

04:46I don't think there's any possibility whatever can happen

04:49that can take the edge of us winning the 20th league title.

04:53I was here two weeks ago and there's nothing,

04:59maybe there can happen a few things,

05:01but those things will be much worse than what we are talking about,

05:04that can take the edge of us winning the league title.

05:07But then we have to think of things that I don't want to think about.

05:10You wouldn't consider leaving him out for the whole game?

05:13The thing I consider is I want to win a game of football,

05:17and if we think we can win this one with Trent,

05:21I owe it to his teammates, to the fans,

05:24because they hired me to win as much games of football as possible.

05:27And if I think there's a better chance of winning it with Trent, I will.

05:30If I think, which I don't think, it's a distraction or whatever can happen

05:35for us not to play a good game of football,

05:37then I might, might, might make another decision.

05:40But I think Trent showed today why I brought him in,

05:45because he was very close with a few fantastic crosses for us to win the game.

05:51Aside from Trent, what did you make of your performance in the game today?

05:57Unfortunately, we had 15-20 minutes where we played with the same intensity,

06:05and it's not completely bad, but I missed a little bit,

06:08and that were the first 15-20 minutes in the second half,

06:11which were similar to what we saw last week,

06:13where we played really good with the ball,

06:15came in so many promising positions,

06:17but in the final third we weren't that decisive,

06:19and defending last week, the few goals we conceded,

06:23was, no, let's put it positive, not so good.

06:27And that I saw in the first 15 minutes after half-time,

06:32but the first half was great, and I think all over,

06:36this is why people like the Premier League so much,

06:39two great teams that are competing with each other

06:41in a fantastic game of football, both teams showing so much quality,

06:44and four goals, two-two, both teams could have won it in the end.

06:49This is what makes the Premier League so special,

06:52and this is also what we have to try as managers,

06:56not only to win games, but also make sure the fans like what they see.

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