Slot on Liverpool's style and fitness after 1-0 Betis pre season win
Slot on Liverpool's style and fitness after 1-0 Betis pre season win
27/07/2024
Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
27/07/2024
Acrisure Stadium – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Category
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SportTranscript
00:00How did you sort of see that game, getting the win on your first match as Liverpool manager?
00:27I think there were a few positive things and of course a few things we have to improve.
00:31A positive thing is that we kept a clean sheet.
00:34I think we only conceded one big chance and that was somewhere around the last ten minutes of the game.
00:40So we controlled the game really well and in between we had a few good attacks
00:46where we created a few good chances and scored a good goal.
00:49So that were the positives from this game.
00:51How much was the team in your own image, the style of play, the formation,
00:55and how much of it was out of necessity because you don't have that many players available?
01:00I think during the season you will see us play with a real striker.
01:06But at this moment we have no-one available and then with Dom and Harvey we've got two number 10s
01:11so we put them in the position they will play during the season as well.
01:14So that was one of the reasons why we played with a double 10 instead of a striker.
01:18That is maybe out of necessity.
01:20But for the rest, the style of play with trying to build up from the back,
01:26that is our style to control the game, to not concede constant counter-attacks.
01:31That will hopefully be our style during the season.
01:35There were also, of course, many things we can improve but that's normal after two weeks.
01:42We haven't seen Vajetic in game action for quite some time.
01:45What were your thoughts on his performance?
01:48I think you have to take into account with Stefan that he was out for a year,
01:52one and a half year almost.
01:54So if a young player is out for that long you have to give him some time.
01:57But I saw today already a few good moments from him.
02:00And also a few moments where he got caught because he acted a bit too slow.
02:06But I think that's normal if you've been out for such a long time.
02:09Then you need rhythm, you need game time to grow even further.
02:12But I think he showed some good moments during the half hour that he played.
02:18You talked about wanting to play out of the back.
02:20The teams pressed pretty heavily for most of this game, pretty high up the field.
02:23How do you feel your team coped with being able to play out of the back
02:26under that pressure in the first weeks of the game here?
02:29I think we pressed them higher than they did us.
02:32We won the ball back a lot of times high on their half.
02:36But there were moments that they pressed us high.
02:40We played through their press a few times really good.
02:43So the goal was an example of that in the second half.
02:45Our biggest chance of the second half was an example of that as well.
02:49But I also saw moments where we lost the ball too simple
02:53or we made the wrong choices.
02:55And I think that's normal after two weeks of trying to implement
03:00more control from the back.
03:05So we take some positives and we take some things
03:07which we can and have to improve,
03:09especially with the likes of Arsenal and Man United coming up.
03:14You just coached Liverpool for the first time in front of fans.
03:18How did that feel for you personally?
03:23If I'm coaching my team, I'm only focused on 11 players.
03:26What can they do? What can they do better?
03:28Which positions do they have to take? Which choices do they make?
03:31So I'm not so aware constantly of coaching Liverpool
03:34or the amount of fans that are there.
03:36My focus is mainly on the team and where can I help them
03:39during the game or during half-time.
03:41So of course it's a nice experience to play in front of the fans
03:45because they were there with a lot of people,
03:47even over here in the USA.
03:50But like I said, mainly focused on the players
03:55and not as much focused on the fans.
03:58But it's nice to play in front of them and to have them here as well.
04:02How is Curtis? Obviously we saw him come off.
04:06He was talking about how excited he was about being part of the team
04:10and potentially getting a chance to show what he can do.
04:13How is he personally as well? I know he really wanted a chance to impress.
04:17Yeah, it's always a pity if he has to go out after 25 minutes, half an hour.
04:23And before that you could see that he was not completely free.
04:28So it was unfortunate because he had two really good weeks
04:31during training sessions.
04:33So I look forward to seeing him in the game.
04:35But unfortunately he had to go out.
04:37The good thing about that was that we brought someone
04:39that impressed me in the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterwards.
04:47That was the positive thing of Curtis going out for Trey.
04:50But of course for Curtis it's a pity that he couldn't play on.
04:55Trey's just turned 17. How much of a talent is he?
05:00I think he did really well today, but it was only an hour.
05:06Like I said, he did well.
05:08He was one of the reasons why we scored the goal.
05:11Because he turned really quickly and spot on pass in between the lines.
05:15And he was also involved in the biggest chance in the second half.
05:18So he did well, but he just turned 17.
05:21His body has to grow and we are really careful with him
05:24so he doesn't join every session and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier.
05:28Because like you said, he only turned 17 and you can see his quality,
05:33but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow
05:40to play at Premier League level.
05:43But he showed some interesting things today.
05:46What was the field condition like?
05:48This is normally a US football field.
05:50Had it been expanded for European soccer?
05:53No, the field was really good.
05:56I sprinkled it. It was full of grass.
06:00I think the field suited the way we wanted to play.
06:04We did lose the ball a few times, but that had nothing to do with the field.
06:09That had to do with the individual performance of some players
06:13and the choices they made.
06:16But the losses of the ball had nothing to do with the pitch.
06:19The pitch was perfect.
06:21On Jones, was it a precaution or could he be facing a third time out?
06:26Is it too early to tell yet?
06:28I think that's too early to tell, but he maybe could have played on,
06:33but I think you could see that he was not at 100%.
06:36Then in a friendly game with so many days coming up in our tour as well,
06:42it's best to take him off.
06:44Hopefully he can recover really fast, but we have to wait and see.
06:48But we hope he recovers really fast so we can see him in the next few games.